Regard is keen to encourage better practice in the provision of social care for disabled LGBTQI+ people.
Social care providers often do not recognise that disabled people may be LGBTQI+ and that LGBTQI+ disabled people may have specific needs. The inadequate provision of social care compromises not only a person’s independence at home but also their opportunities to go out to work or to meet friends and generally participate in the community.
We don’t know for sure what proportion of social care users are LGBTQI+. However we think that LGBTQI+ people are probably over-represented in the population of social care users for three reasons:
a) the adverse effects of homophobia on people’s physical and mental health;
b) the long-term impact of HIV;
c) the greater likelihood of estrangement from family support networks.
Regard has been working with the University of Bristol, the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and Stonewall on a research project into the management of self-directed social care by disabled LGBTQI+ People. The outcome of this research is now available by clicking on this link to the Resources section of this website
COMMENTS