SJ Zhang writes that healthcare providers need to take into account if you’re a person of colour, because “your background, heritage, your upbringing, [can mean] it’s a lot more difficult for you to come out to your family.”
Category: Lived Experience
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?
by Maya Chew I arrived at the dimly lit Heathrow in the dead of winter. “You have a good day, sir,” said the immigration officer as I first set foot […]
Categories
Remembering who I am
I act for a living. That would make sense, what with going to drama school. It’s tough – brutal at times – but I love it. And I love being trans, in every capacity. Simply knowing myself to be ‘trans’ makes me feel whole. And being both trans and an actor makes me a ‘trans actor’ – I love that, too. But, prior to this year, I was stuck in a habit of forgetting who I am.
But when I started to transition medically, it took a lot longer than other transgender people. When I asked for treatment, I had to wait a long time. They asked me loads of questions, like “you have a learning disability, so do you understand what transgender means?” Someone told me I couldn’t possibly be trans, because it was “too complicated for me.”