What are the key ingredients to being successful in keeping resolutions?
The LGBTQ+ community is a diverse group of individuals who may differ not only on their sexual and romantic orientation or gender identity. For instance, individuals who are transgender and gender-diverse are 3-6 times more likely to be autistic compared with their cisgender counterparts (Warrier et al., 2020). A national dataset also found that 22% of LGBT respondents reported a disability or long-term health condition (O’Shea et al., 2020). For these individuals, this can create magnified ‘minority stress’ where not only does the individual need to navigate the stigma and discrimination from being a member of the LGBTQ+ community but also that of having a disability. Individuals who have a disability often experience barriers to service access as well as barriers accessing to LGBTQ+ spaces. Below are some tips and simple adjustments that can be made to make services more accessible for autistic individuals and those with a disability. It is recommended that services check in with clients prior to the first appointment to ensure any adjustments are personalised to the individual.
Examples of reasonable adjustments:
- Checking accessibility needs e.g. wheelchair accessibility
- Arranging additional supports for individuals with visual or hearing impairments e.g. speech to text services, Auslan interpreters
- Introducing visual cues or gestures and being familiar with any augmentative communication systems the individual currently uses
- Communicating in between sessions via email or text rather than via phone
- Dimming/turning off bright lights
- Offering sensory tools
- Reducing background noise and interruptions
- Being flexible regarding the duration of the session
- Including support persons with client’s consent
- Providing written material for the client to read and process before the session
- Providing written summaries of your session
- Allowing for breaks when needed
- Being clear about what to expect from your service
- Allowing more time to process verbal information
- Asking more specific rather than broad, general open questions
- Be respectful of personal space and preferences not to shake hands etc.
Ways in which LGBTQ+ spaces can be more welcoming for autistic individuals or those with disabilities:
- Choosing venues that are wheelchair accessible, provide access to gender neutral toilets, include a quiet space/sensory space, Auslan interpreters or closed caption
- Communicating more detail around what to expect of the event and event space e.g. strobe lighting, duration of event, level of noise, access to quiet spaces
- Offering a buddy for individuals to link in with if they are attending on their own
- Last but not least, embracing the diversity within the LGBTQ+ community and being open to learning about the experience of others so that Mardi Gras can be a fun and positive experience for all!
References
O’Shea, A., Latham, J., Beaver, S., Lewis, J., Mountford, R., Rose, M, Trezona, A., Frawley, P. (2020). More than Ticking a Box: LGBTIQA+ People With Disability Talking About Their Lives. Geelong: Deakin University.
Warrier V, Greenberg DM, Weir E, Buckingham C, Smith P, Lai MC, Allison C, Baron-Cohen S. Elevated rates of autism, other neurodevelopmental and psychiatric diagnoses, and autistic traits in transgender and gender-diverse individuals. Nat Commun. 2020 Aug 7;11(1):3959. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-17794-1. PMID: 32770077; PMCID: PMC7415151.
