Abstract
This Open Letter discusses the theme of 'diversity in brain health' in research, practice and policy for older LGBT+ people. It is written by a multidisciplinary group of Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute in Trinity College Dublin (TCD), from a variety of disciplines (health economics, human geography, anthropology, psychology, gerontology) and professions (researcher, clinicians, writers, practicing artists). The groupdeveloped a workshop to explore the theme of 'Diversity and Brain Health' through the lens of non-normative gender identities and sexualities. Guided by two advisors (Prof Agnes Higgins, TCD; Mr Ciaran McKinney, Age and Opportunity), we invited older LGBT+ people and those interested in the topic of LGBT+ and ageing, healthcare providers, policy makers and interested members of the research community. We partnered with colleagues in the School of Law to include socio-legal perspectives. Following the workshop, Roe and Walrath wrote an opinion editorial, published in the Irish Times during the 2019 PRIDE festival, and were subsequently invited by HRB Open Access to provide a more detailed expansion of that work. In this Open Letter we describe the theme of 'diversity and brain health' and some of the lessons we learned from listening to the lived experience of older LGBT+ people in Ireland today. We illustrate why it's important to understand the lived experience of older LGBT+ people and highlight the failure of the State to evaluate the experience of LGBT+ people in policy implementation. We call on researchers, clinicians, service planners and policy makers, to recognize and address diversity as an important way to address health inequities in Ireland.
Highlights
Brain health is described as the ability to remember, learn, plan, concentrate and maintain a clear, active mind by being able to draw on the strengths of your brain such as information management, logic, judgement, perspective and wisdom[1]
Diversity and brain health: Perspectives from older LGBT+ people In this context, the workshop was developed by a group of Fellows who were aware that non-normative sexual and gender identities were not always accepted both within and across countries, and these identities can go unseen in healthcare settings
Together with two advisors[1] and with partners in the School of Law at TCD2, we developed a workshop held on June 4th at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), to examine diversity and brain health through the lens of the LGBT+ community[3]
Summary
Gloria Gutman , Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada. Any reports and responses or comments on the article can be found at the end of the article. This article is included in the Ageing Populations collection. Disclaimer The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s). Publication in HRB Open Research does not imply endorsement by the Health Research Board of Ireland
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