We know almost nothing about the use and experiences of using social care support by LGBT+ disabled people. We might assume that there may be some tricky negotiations with the whole range of social care staff and providers when getting needs met that relate to sexual identity. Apart from initial decisions to ‘come out’, users may well need support to access LGBT+ venues, take part in social activities with other LGBT+ people, facilitate other ‘ordinary’ daily aspects of being LGBT+, require physical support with sex (alone or with others). LGBT+ people with learning disabilities may need particular support to assert and/or explain their needs as they pertain to sexual identity.
Our study included a survey of LGBT+ disabled adults who use social care in England; qualitative interviews with 30 LGBT+ disabled people paying attention to recruiting participants from across the LGBT+ spectrum as well as along lines of age, gender, ethnicity; and, also included a focus group of personal assistants (PAs) to explore issues from their perspective.
The launch event
The launch event will showcase the research findings and outputs – aside from the academic outputs we have produced some short films and web resources, and will disseminate these widely across our extensive networks.
Register for the FREE event here.