“I’d like to connect you with an advocate who can help you enroll in home and community-based services,” we told the young person in need. This call seemed like many of our calls – someone with developmental disabilities needed help to find a place to live and basic supports. This caller had just left their parents’ home for the first time.
The caller paused for a long time. “I don’t know if I feel safe doing that,” they said. “Is there anyone you can connect me with who understands sexual and gender minorities?”
We realized our typical information and referral process was not going to meet this person’s needs.
Calls, like this one, have increased over the last several years.
Sexual and gender minorities are part of every community but are often the least seen, welcomed, or understood:
- An estimated 3-5 million people in the U.S. are LGBTQIA+ and have disabilities.
- Both people with disabilities and people who identify as sexual/gender minorities report more health problems and more barriers to accessing healthcare than the general population. Research that has focused on some version of the intersection of those identities has found even greater barriers. (One example: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328491938_Health_Disparities_at_the_Intersection_of_Disability_and_Gender_Identity_A_Framework_and_Literature_Review)
- In Tennessee, the Council funded a Vanderbilt University study last year on disability services and how people access them. People with disabilities who identified as LGBTQIA+ reported higher rates of:
- Problems finding information they needed
- Problems connecting with service providers
- Lack of existing resources
In Tennessee, we have started connecting people with the Vanderbilt Program for LGBTQ Health, which is one of the only networks in the Southeast with healthcare providers who understand and welcome sexual and gender minorities. Right now, the center does not have specific training in disability. We explained this to the caller above. They replied, “Right now, if I have to choose one or the other, I need to work with someone who is informed in LGBTQ+ issues. I am not safe otherwise.” That perspective has stayed with us. We know that we have to bridge that gap.
We know we must forge a new frontier.
Tennessee’s Developmental Disabilities Network has connected with Tennessee Disability Pathfinder and organizations serving LGBTQIA+ communities across the state. As usual with a new frontier, we must start by building relationships. From there, we can start building that bridge between the disability and LGBTQ+ healthcare worlds.
This is what the DD Network is best on: forging new frontiers in the disability field.
- Twenty years ago, we forged the path to Employment First. Back then, most people were still not sure that people with developmental disabilities could work.
- More recently, we forged the path to protecting the decision-making rights of people with developmental disabilities. The Center for Decision-Making Support – the first of its kind in the U.S. – came from that work.
We are just beginning the work to understand healthcare for gender and sexual minorities with disabilities, but we know where we are going. Together, we will work to:
- Bridge the disability and LGBTQIA+ communities and more fully understand the needs of people who experience both identities.
- Develop a place to find healthcare resources specifically for this community. These resources will live on the Tennessee Disability Pathfinder website.
- Make sure Tennessee’s healthcare providers have resources and training to best serve people with disabilities who are LGBTQIA+.
If you or someone you love is an LGBTQIA+ person with a disability, we welcome your input on the healthcare needs you have experienced. You can contact Tennessee Disability Pathfinder with your perspective:
- tnpathfinder@VUMC.org
- 1-800-640-4636
Your story will be kept confidential but will inform how we work for progress for Tennessee’s disability community.
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A local group of autistic young adults who are LGBTQIA+ shared their perspective on accessing healthcare. We’ve included just a few of their comments:
“Can it be made easier to figure out if a provider will be knowledgeable in both LGBTQIA+ issues AND disability issues?”
“I have a hard time trusting people when they say they have limited/no experience working with autistic people.”
“I wish there was a place I could go where the providers are part of the LGBTQIA+ community.”
“Because everything is changing and dynamic, I would like providers to commit to ongoing training/learning about LGBTQIA+/disability issues.”
“I would like to see gender inclusive intake processes. What you fill out should be respected by all staff who interact with you.”
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Tennessee’s Developmental Disabilities Network
Disability Rights Tennessee
1-800-342-1660
GetHelp@disabilityrightstn.org
disabilityrightstn.org
Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities
615-532-6615
TNDDC@tn.gov
tn.gov/cdd
UTHSC Center on Developmental Disabilities
901-448-6511
https://www.uthsc.edu/cdd/
Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
615-322-8240
kc@vumc.org
vkc.vumc.org