For over 10 years now, SAND (Safe Ageing No Discrimination) has been listening to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people talk about their life experiences, hopes, fears and concerns about growing older, and growing old in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin.
We hear that people are worried about maintaining their whole identity, of being safe, of having others around them who truly care for their wellbeing.
SAND believes that those experiences, in reality, could be better and we have been busy talking to a range of organisations providing care, or housing, or information and advice about what they can do to address some of those fears and concerns – and the inevitable questions that arise.
For 2023, SAND is prioritising a mass outreach programme to reach as many older and old LGBT+ people who live, work or play in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin as possible to inform them about the work SAND has been doing.
To help us with this outreach, we have produced a 16 page A5 booklet called SAND Matters. We want to circulate this with some form of contact/talk/input (as opposed to just leaving them around for people to pick up – or not).
We have an ambitious target and ideas for various outreach routes, including making ourselves known to:
- generic groups established for older and old people – some constituents may be LGBT+, others may have family members, friends, neighbours who are LGBT+
- those who provide services to all older and old people – who can then share our information and target those generic groups (above)
