TransActual welcomes the majority of recommendations in the 8th version of WPATH’s standards of care. The new version, on the whole, represents progress in attitudes towards trans people and our […]
Category: Healthcare
A quick canter through the anomalies of drug prescribing in the UK; what’s wrong with the system; and why, if you tried to design a system to make life difficult for trans kids you would be pushed to come up with a more toxic one.
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Tink (they/he)
I got on well with the occupational therapist involved in my autism diagnosis. He felt like someone I could approach, so I messaged him about my gender and told him that I was embarrassed to approach my GP. The occupational therapist was really supportive. His support was empowering – he recognised where I needed support and where he could step back.
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James (he/they)
In the end I started testosterone before I started University. Without the combined support of PALS, my psychiatrist and the GP I doubt this would have been the case.
When I needed assistance with transitioning, I decided to turn to my community again, as I no longer trust doctors. I received a binder through G(end)er Swap’s free binder program, which has been a massive weight off my shoulders (no pun intended) whilst I remain on the GIC’s waiting list for top surgery.
Giving evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee on 8 September 2015, Dr John Dean authoritatively summarised the genesis of gender identity clinics [GICs]:
“there is quite considerable diversity of opinion between different clinicians and different clinics. All seven gender clinics in England arose out of the special interest of an individual a long time in the past. There has not been a lot of planning of their development, and there certainly is no training pathway for medical practitioners or others who work in this field.” [1]
Who were these individuals ‘a long time in the past’, how did they come to define the lives of trans people, and why are GICs such a focus of criticism from the patients they exist to serve?