Dementia Care for Transgender People

[Pythagonal]

I caught this earlier on the regional news, and I'm not sure I know what to make of it. My grandmother had dementia, and used to not know who I was, which was difficult for me to cope with.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-43365446

"Jenny Burgess, 66, from Connah's Quay, Flintshire, who had gender reassignment surgery last year, helped draw up BCUHB's guidance.

She said the advice was key as transgender people with dementia "may wake up one day and they'll be confused why they're dressed in a certain way".

She said: "Take for instance a transgender woman - they may well get quite concerned and disturbed at being in female clothes.

"They may worry why certain parts are missing from their anatomy. So it's these sort of things that I'd like staff to be aware of. There's no simple answer… but it really is a worrying scenario." "

I'd love to hear your thoughts, perhaps I'm a bit too close to be able to think clearly about this. My initial reaction was that if someone is distressed about the clothes they are wearing, then let them wear something else. Are we helping by telling a dementia patient that they changed gender, when they can't remember it? I honestly don't know.

Bother, clicky link didn't work, sorry

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-43365446

If the ideology is correct then they have a true innate gender and they won't be disturbed to find themselves dressed according to the norms of that gender. In fact we might find dementia bringing out latent 'true genders' in more people. Assuming that the ideology is correct.

I read something about this a couple of months ago. Distressing, as dementia patients can regress back to the time they accepted their actual sex and yet could be treated insistently as if their once desired gender was to be continually affirmed. Not to mention the distress over missing genitals.

I too found this article really sad, although as a PP said, surely I'd transgender people are born transgender, and gender is innate than it won't be an issue?

This happened locally, a few years back. The transgender woman, as the dementia progressed, became distressed and confused by being called ‘she’ and dressed in women’s clothes, as I recall. A local LGBT charity gave advice, but the newspaper article and the charity’s website never explained what that advice was.

I hope, whatever it was, that it focused on supporting the needs of the patient - advice for caring for dementia patients now is very much around gentle affirming rather than trying to enforce ‘reality’.

In other words work with where they are in their own heads/memories, rather than trying to bring them back to the present day. I’m not explaining this at all well.

advice for caring for dementia patients now is very much around gentle affirming

How do you do that when for eg they have been castrated and had breast implants? How do you affirm that they are a man, when they have some physical attributes of a woman? That really would cause gender dysphoria...

I don’t know. That’s why it would have been useful to understand what advice the charity gave to the care home, and what effect it had.

Isn't it transphobic to suggest that this even happens?

Oh, my goodness! I hadn’t thought about this, but it makes sense. As they regress and go back to childhood and early adulthood they’ll remember or know themselves as the sex they actually biologically are. That must be incredibly distressing for those individuals and those who care for them.

It could be considered that way Tralee. Sad that an ideology would get in the way of caring for someone with dementia in the best way, isn't it?

Yes very sad. And frustrating that no doubt any research won't be allowed

Sally Hines has been working in the field of transgender care practices for a long time. The most recent book I have of hers is 2007, but it wouldn't surprise me if she has published in the interim on this subject (I haven't been researching in that area for ten years, so not entirely up to date).

Very sad. Dementia is complex and there are many experiences that can have an affect. Caring organisations will need to understand how to respond to these situations.

My aunt has dementia and she specifically said that she didn't want a man changing her. Well, there was a man who came in and his response was to her, because she became agitated and upset:

'Don't worry love, I'm not going to fiddle with your private parts'. He was with his wife at the time and they thought it was an appropriate response.

Needless to say my cousin reported them and they no longer take care of my aunt. Female only attend now - and heaven help them if they are transgender women, because she would know. Thankfully this hasn't happened but I cannot see it ever happening, hopefully.

So, I can understand the concerns regarding this. It's important to maintain the dignity of the person. To clothe, dress and speak to them as they previously have been. It's a basic of safeguarding. So long as it's reciprocated, i.e. a trans woman would respect the wishes of someone like my aunt and not kick up a fuss.

This completely disagrees with all trans idiology.

Although I agree with those suggesting that if gender's innate (as insisted by many) it shouldn't be a massive shock, surely this is just an extreme example of the many horrible realities carers and dementia sufferers tackle on a daily basis? What about a gay couple who can only remember it being illegal? Or an amputee who can't remember the accident they were in?

Sorry Minger I meant if they so wish.

Dementia is very much a spectrum. Clarity one day, several days even and then confusion for a week the next. Plus the majority also have other health problems too, the majority being, unfortunately, in the pelvic area and in that case, genitals do matter.