Συμμετοχή των Proud Seniors Greece σε κοινό workshop με την Ολλανδική οργάνωση Roze 50+ όσον αφορά την παρουσίαση των οργανώσεων και των δράσεων μας, αλλά και την δημιουργία κοινού δικτύου επικοινωνίας και διαμεσολάβησης με ΛΟΑΤΚΙ άτομα άνω των 50 ετών και οργανώσεις που ασχολούνται αποκλειστικά με αυτό.
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Απολογισμός του workshop των Proud Seniors Greece, και κάποιες σκέψεις γενικότερα για το συνέδριο από κ. Γιάννο Κανελλόπουλο.
Όσον αφορά το φετινό συνέδριο της ILGA στην Πράγα της Τσεχίας θα μιλήσω και σαν ατομικότητα αλλά και σαν εκπρόσωπος των Proud Seniors Greece.
“…Το συναίσθημα που με κατακλύζει προσπαθώντας να κάνω απολογισμό αυτών των ημερών είναι απερίγραπτο και ούτε μπορώ ακριβώς να το εκφράσω με λέξεις. Όλες αυτές τις ημέρες σε ένα απόλυτα ασφαλές περιβάλλον βρέθηκα με τόσα άτομα, ανταλλάξαμε προσωπικές ιστορίες γεμάτες από δάκρυα αλλά και χαμόγελα και ανοίξαμε τις ψυχές μας. Με κάποια παιδιά από αυτά που αναφέρω ήδη γνωριζόμαστε, κάποια άλλα τώρα μπήκαν στην ζωή μου και ήδη τα σκέφτομαι με απέραντη γλυκύτητα και χαρά για όλα αυτά που μοιραστήκαμε.
Όμορφες στιγμές! Κουβέντες χαράς, επικοινωνίας, κουβέντες βγαλμένες από την ψυχή, ανθρώπινες. Πολύχρωμες και Πολυπολιτισμικές. Γυρνώντας στην Αθήνα πήρα στην βαλίτσα του μυαλού μου τα πρόσωπα σας, τα γέλια τα δάκρυα και τις στιγμές μας.
Όλες αυτές οι μέρες μου έδωσαν έμπνευση και δύναμη να συνεχίσω με κάθε τρόπο να παλεύω για την καθημερινότητα και σαν ατομικότητα αλλά και σαν μέλος της παγκόσμιας ΛΟΑΤΚΙ+ οικογένειας. Αγαπημένοι φίλοι Σας ευχαριστώ από καρδιάς για ότι μου χαρίσατε…’
“… Όσον αφορά στο δεύτερο κομμάτι (εκπροσωπώντας δηλαδή τους Proud Seniors Greece σε κοινό πάνελ workshop με την αδελφή οργάνωση Roze 50+ της Ολλανδίας και τον εκπρόσωπο τους κ. Martin Moerings) καταρχήν θέλουμε από καρδιάς να ευχαριστήσουμε την διοργάνωση της ILGA Europe που άνοιξε φέτος περισσότερο το θέμα των μεγαλύτερων ατόμων της κοινότητας μας και ελπίζουμε να συνεχίσει να μας παρέχει το βήμα.
Αφού παρουσιάσαμε τις οργανώσεις μας κάναμε μια πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα συζήτηση με το κοινό μέσα από ερωταπαντήσεις, όσον αφορά διάφορα ζητήματα που έχουν να κάνουν με τα ΛΟΑΤΚΙ ηλικιωμένα άτομα. Συζητήσαμε για τους τρόπους και τα μέσα επικοινωνίας που μπορούν οι οργανώσεις μας να βρουν, προκειμένου να έρθουν σε επαφή με περισσότερα ΛΟΑΤΚΙ ηλικιωμένα άτομα, και πώς θα βρούμε τρόπους επικοινωνίας με αυτά που μένουν εκτός μεγάλων αστικών κέντρων αλλά και τα μέσα επικοινωνίας μιας και υπάρχει μεγάλη δυσκολία λόγω του ότι πολλά άτομα δεν χρησιμοποιούν ίντερνετ, facebook η αλλά applications.
Αναφερθήκαμε στα προβλήματα που αντιμετωπίζουν και είδαμε ότι είναι κοινά. Ανοίξαμε το μεγάλο κεφάλαιο της υγειας και της συνταξιοδότησης δίνοντας έμφαση στα ηλικιωμένα άτομα που έχουν υποστεί κακοποίηση και περιθωριοποίηση λόγω διαφορετικού σεξουαλικού προσανατολισμού και ταυτότητας φύλου. Ανοίξαμε το θέμα της επιστροφής στην ντουλάπα λόγω “γηρατειών” και μοναξιάς.
Επίσης μας απασχόλησε αρκετά το θέμα του ασφαλούς περιβάλλοντος και κατά πόσο το παρέχουν οι (ανοιχτές προς όλα τα άτομα) δομές φιλοξενίας. Στο κομμάτι της υγείας έγινε αναφορά στο πώς μπορεί να μεγαλώνει κάποιο άτομο με ασθένειες όπως πχ το Αλτσχάιμερ η το hiv.
Τέλος, μεγάλη αναφορά έγινε στην κοινωνικοποίηση και ψυχαγωγία των μελών μας γεμίζοντας το κενό της μοναξιάς και της απομόνωσης.
Ακούστηκαν πολλές ιδέες οι οποίες ήδη έχουν καταγραφεί και θα δουλέψουν πάνω σ’ αυτές οι οργανώσεις μας. Έγιναν Εξαιρετικές προτάσεις για νέες γέφυρες επικοινωνίας αλλά και άμεσης συνεργασίας με άλλες Ευρωπαϊκές Οργανώσεις που ασχολούνται με το κομμάτι των lgbtqi+ seniors. (Σύντομα θα ενημερώσουμε όσον αφορά αυτό).
Ευχαριστούμε πολύ και πάλι τους συνεργάτες μας Roze50+ λίγο περισσότερο τον Martin Moerings που ήταν μαζί μας αλλά και την διοργάνωση για το scholarship που μας παρείχε και ελπίζουμε να μην σταματήσει όλο αυτό εδώ.
Ακολουθεί στην αγγλική, το κείμενο που βασίστηκε το workshop των proud seniors gr.
PROUD SENIORS GREECE – who we are
The story starts with Nana. A transgender woman, our dearest friend, who died of cancer in August 2015. Her death made us realise what extremly challenging life scenarios elder LGBTQI persons can find themselves in. Left alone with their health issues and corelated financial struggles, living in isolation, very often closeted again and ostracised from their biological families and society, keeping to themselves their pain and loneliness, and above all, facing discrimination from health and care workers on every day basis. Nana’s struggle made us realise the importance of creating in our country an organisation specialising in the needs of elder LGBTQI + people. We called upon our community members and opened the Seniors Greece organisation. Although initially created to help our friend Nana, currently Proud Seniors is a self-managed group supporting LGBTQI + seniors across the whole country.
We work in 3 main divisions:
- Mediation in wide range of domestic care also psychological support and mental health, referal to social services and nursing home. Furthermore, creating a telephone line open to help people living even in remote places.
- Entertainment and socialising. We create safe spaces, we organize social events in order to get together, to meet each other, to have fun and to share moments. Karaoke parties, book presentations, film projections, art exhibitions, theatre evenings and many more.
- Political and societal recognition. Our goal is to inform a wider public outside of the community about LGBTQI+ seniors’ issues. We actively participate in street demonstrations, political statements, taking part in interviews and press conferences, drafting laws and also cooperating with other groups of the community.
Our aims:
- A supporting network for LGBTQI+ seniors all over Greece
- Participation of seniors in public social care services/commissioners/providers without any discrimination
- Financial and legal support
- Home health care offering safe spaces
- Education of health care providers in hospitals in order to eliminate discrimination
- Free hospice and palliative care
- Pensions and social security for senior people that did not have the opportunity to work legally because of their gender identity or sexual orientation, specially transgender sex workers.
Social Recognition and Reality of LGBTQI+ people in Greece
In the last few years we have witnessed crucial changes within the Greek law concerning civil and human rights of LGBTQI+ community. The recognition of same-sex unions in December 2015 is a most important step forward towards the equality and the visibility. Another milestone happened in 2017 when transgender people were granted the right to change their legal gender without having to undergo surgical alteration of their genitals.
While we observe historical moments in Greece where the LGBTQI+ rights are officially recognised, at the same time we face the paradox of turning to conservatism. On the one hand the Ministry of Education introduces “gender and diversity issues” in the school curriculum, on the other hand representatives of the church are launching public hate speech and actions against LGBTQI+ people.
For example, last year Ambrosius of Kalavryta, a former head of the orthodox Church in Greece, was trying to evict an elderly gay man from a nursing home Kalimanopouleio in Kalavryta. Proud Seniors Greece immediately filed the case against the Bishop at relevant authorities. The case was brought to the press and media, which resulted in that the elderly person was by law allowed to stay in the nursing home.
The former Bishop is notorious for spreading hatered against LGBTQI+ people. “If I had a gun I would shoot them” was one of his infamous remarks addressed publicly against LGBTQI+ persons, for which he was also sued in 2018.
Also last year in September were mourning the loss of Zak Kostopoulos. A well-known activist, a defender of LGBTQI+ and HIV positive people, a drag queen, who lost his life when brutally attacked by 8 police officers , in front of many witnesses, in the center of Athens. This violent incident, led to massive demonstrations across the country and abroad.
Homophobic and transphobic attacks and threats take place on a daily basis not only in Athens, but in the whole Greece. That is why the visibility and strong presence of organizations like Proud Seniors Greece in cooperation with LGBTQI+ community, is paramount and needless to say, necessary.
Good Practices of Proud Seniors Greece.
As mentioned earlier, our presence and involvement within the fabric of the society is much needed in order to reach wider public and furthermore to gain more visibility and recognition. Hence Proud Seniors Greece is actively ivolved in good practic activities, such as:
- The first scientific conference in Greece about dementia/ Alzheimer’s/mental health issues was organized by Proud Seniors Greece 2016. People from public health services, LGBTQI+ community and governmental representatives on the panel were discussing about senior’s issues.
- LGBTQI+ seniors avoid to do check ups as they are afraid of the stigma and the discrimination, so in 2016 Athens Pride our group, collaborating with Alzheimer Greece organized a free open memory test with specialists.
- In September 2016 Proud Seniors Greece have participated in the International Alzheimer’ s Day, informing health providers and also every interested person, as this disease concerns people of our community.
- «We walked the Dementia/Alzheimer’s path together for 12 YEARS … He was NOT a victim of Alzheimer’s… but rather a HERO» This is what Michael Horvitch said about his life partner Greg in the relevant documentary ‘Alzheimer’s a love story’ that we translated and screened in the community May 2018.
- In 2017 we requested an inclusion of LGBTQI+ in the National Plan for Alzheimer. We have expressed officially our demands and we are constantly working on the visibility of LGBTQI+ elderly people.
- Proud Seniors Greece is also involved in PARADISO Project which is an EU funded training of public health professionals in inclusive care. We have been building good relations and collaboration with academic partners and the civil society. NGOs such as Alzheimer Athens, EPAPSY and other organizations are standing by our cause.
- Events that our members have the chance to communicate with their work and talents to public (film projections, exhibitions, book presentations).
- A Proud Seniors Greece supports a member who is about publish her first cartoon book titled “Rainbow Seniors” with characters and stories inspired by LGBTQI+ seniors’ every day reality.
Dementia in LGBTQI+ community.
There are an estimated 1.2 million older lgbtqi people in the UK but they are rarely acknowledged by service providers or care commissioners. As the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) stresses: “commissioners and providers don’t often think about LGBT people when planning and delivering services, but this does not mean that LGBT people are not using services or do not want to use services”. People from LGBT communities with ‘. dementia are unlikely to be considered when care is being commissioned. LGBT individuals with dementia often face more challenges than heterosexual patients . For example past experiences of discrimination can make people reluctant to disclose their sexual orientation or gender identity, and can sometimes put them off using formal care and support services.
The most common challenges people with dementia may face:
@ subjection to “triple stigmatization” due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, their age, and their dementia. As discussed, while people face the same health and care issues as everyone else as they age, they have specific health needs and do not want their sexuality to be questioned or judged.
@ subjection to “ageism”, spoken by Butler in 1975, speaks of a systematic process of stereotyping and discrimination of someone because he is just older and includes all these perceptions – stereotyped about the identity of the elderly.
@ subjection to”blind sexuality”. Blind sexuality means that people believe that all the population over 50 years old is either asexual or heterosexual. There is this stereotype that says that people over 50 could not be gay, trans, lesbians etc. By “blind sexuality,” it is understood that there is a great shortage of health professionals in recognizing individuals’ own sexuality.
All above challenges include people worrying about being forced “back into the closet” in later life because of the attitudes of care staff.
Also LGBT elderly people are being more likely to be estranged from relative, in consequence lacking family support, which makes formal care even more important than it is for their heterosexual peer.
The anguish and confusion caused by dementia become worse as LGBTQI+ people with the condition struggle more with negative perceptions of their sexuality or gender in residential care.
The weak points of the health system in Greece:
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- Lack of organized Primary Health Care (mainly in urban centers) and Prevention or Health Promotion
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- Many times, medication is too expensive and people without a private insurance simply can not pay for them. Other times they may be in queue for several months until their treatment begins. For example, people with substance use problems can wait for 1 or 2 years to be served by substitution centers (eg methadone). The waiting list is really huge.
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- Under-funding of the system. The elderly population, often remain untreated or lack specialsed treatment because of low pensions. People who are in an immediate need of surgeries could remain on waiting list for 3 to 4 months.
- Lack of education, retraining and continuing education of health professionals. The positions are often taken by people without proper education about sexual orientation and gender identification. In consequence too many times, individuals fall victim to stigma and prejudice by healthcare professionals who, as mentioned above, are not informed and sensitized on many issues such as sexual orientation and gender.
Future plans of Proud Seniors.
We are aiming at future good practices and plan for care and equal treatment of elderly people with/or without dementia and other mental health issues. More specifically, organised awareness-raising seminars on dementia have been set up and are already taking place. These is free of charge and will be provided to all professional care, mental and medical staff , like: physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, physiotherapist, etc., on a monthly basis.
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- we intend to cooperate with Alzheimer’s public agencies to provide free support to community members and not to support the “home help program”, with staff fully trained in the specificity of the particular population.
- In conclusion, we need to involve LGBTQI+ people in shaping policies and practices on dementia/Alzheimer’s and mental health care. We see it as integrated approach and in partnership between health, social care and voluntary sector when supporting LGBTQI+ people with dementia. –research PhD.