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The aged care royal commission resumes in Melbourne on Monday, with a focus on how the sector is or isn’t coping with the vastly differing needs of older Australians.
The inquiry will be told the nation requires a sophisticated system of aged care that can cope with the specific needs of every Australian, from war veterans with PTSD, to those who’ve been homeless, and people with all types of disability.
Elizabeth Karn, 68, who is profoundly deaf, will tell the commissioners that a lack of funding for interpreters has left her feeling broken, excluded and neglected.
“When are we going to be included and accepted as valued as Australian citizens?” she will tell the inquiry, which has returned to Melbourne for four days of public hearings.
The inquiry will also hear from an elderly lesbian woman who will explain why her visits to residents at an aged-care facility have left her fearing the kind of discrimination she suffered as a younger person.
The National LGBTI Health Alliance says sexual discrimination is alive and well in the aged care sector and stories of discrimination persist.
Samantha Edmonds, who manages the alliance’s aged-care program Silver Rainbow, says distressing stories continue to reach her including one where a same-sex couple was told not to kiss on the lips because other residents might be offended.
“There is a real fear among LGBTI older people that they will be discriminated against, and they’ll have to hide who they are, which means the services won’t actually meet their needs,” Ms Edmonds has told AAP.
“We know aged care isn’t culturally safe for LGBTI older people. Some are doing some fantastic stuff and being very inclusive, but there are others who are still to go on that journey.”
The commission will sit in Melbourne for four days this week.
Australian Associated Press
