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March 14-16, 2019 | London, UK

International Conference on

Vascular Dementia and Dementia

Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Joint Event

Journal of Brain and Neurology | Volume 3

An interactive presentation and open discussion of the needs of an LGBTQ+ person living with Dementia

Phil Harper

University of Worcester, UK

Session Objectives:

• To identify key needs of LGBTQ+ people who may be living

with dementia

• To think about current service provision for LGBTQ+ people

who may be living with dementia

• To explore theories within sexuality and gender and their

application for a person living with dementia.

• To demonstrate knowledge about how a person’s identity is

linked with their sexuality and Gender and the implications this

could have for a person living with dementia.

Fictional Case study: Alice is a transgender person who is living

with Alzheimer’s disease. Alice identifies as a woman, she has

had gender reassignment surgery. Alice is in themoderate stage

of her Alzheimer’s disease. Alice is currently living ina residential

care home specialising in dementia care. Alice in later years has

identified as a lesbian.

Context: According to the Semlyen (2016) there are no accurate

statistics on LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and

Queer) people living with dementia. However, it is estimated

that there are 1.2 million older gay and lesbian people in the

U.K (Semlyen 2016). If you apply this statistic to the fact that

one in fourteen people over the age of 65 may develop a form

of dementia (Alzheimer’s Society 2017), you can estimate that

there could be approximately 85,714 gay and lesbian people

with dementia. This approximate demonstrates that there is a

need for services such as care homes to recognise the specific

needs of a Gay and lesbian person with dementia. The estimate

however does not take into account transgender or other non-

binary people living with dementia, the number of LGBTQ+

people with dementia could therefore be a greater number.