END LIFE REALITY: LGBT Elders See More Poverty, Isolation and Bias

“Disparities and Resilience among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Older Adults.”

¨Researchers at the University of Washington School of Social Work, in Seattle, found in the first nationwide LGBT study on aging and health. It shows that LGBT seniors experience higher rates of disability, physical and mental anguish, as well lack of access to services than the non-LGBT population in the United States.¨   HERE

¨Ricardo Urrieta, 61, claims to face discrimination times four: "I am old, I'm Latino, I'm gay and I have HIV," he declared. "This is the end for many people.”

Urrieta 's life has not been easy in recent months. And his struggles reflect findings or a recent national study of older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) seniors, including significant samples of ethnic elders.

"I was a nurse, but one day I could not continue working. I fell down all the time in the hospital because a disk in my back protruded. The doctor told me I could no longer work," he recalled.

Disabled and Homeless

While Urrieta waited for his disability-insurance checks to start arriving, everything became complicated. With no income and no family, he had to leave his apartment in Los Angeles.

"I spent a week in my car, I became homeless on Skid Row. I had to join the queue for a ticket to get me a sandwich and a soda."

Eventually he got a room in a hotel for homeless people. "It did not even have windows," he said... HERE

·  Thanks to New America Media, Elders, HERE
·  Thanks to New America Media/La Opinion ,
·  Thanks to Araceli Martinez Ortega