It's progress, I guess.
Following an American Psychiatric Association report on transgender health, the APA has issued an "official position statements on the care and civil rights of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals."
Some good news: they acknowledge that we're not "disordered." Gender Identity Disorder is a thing of the past.
We're now have (suffer from?) "gender dysphoria," which means we're "unhappy with our birth gender." I can agree with that.
Zack Ford summarised the statement for the HuffPost:
'The APA explained the importance of standing up for the trans community, citing the “significant discrimination, prejudice, and the potential for victimization from violent hate crimes, as well as denial of many basic civil rights, protections, and access to health care, to the severe detriment of their mental health.'
The entire article is here. I've communicated with Mr Ford (and mentioned him before) a couple of times about issues I raised yesterday, about us being added on to the LGB ship as ballast, much as social conservatives are ballast for the Republican Party ~ not needed, except to add to the weight of the ship so it sails better (or the number of the cause so they can increase their strength). I don't know if I made a difference, but Mr Ford's been much more attentive to T issues, and I salute him.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
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Meg,
ReplyDeleteThe article by Mr. Ford is good and the actions of the APA are a long time coming BUT it seems that we remain subject to labeling and nomenclature issues.
The APA refers to the entire group as 'transgender or gender variant'. I suppose going forward this terminology may take precedence over the terms "transsexual, transvestite, crossdresser, etc."
As for me I do not see myself as a victim or as suffering from a 'transgender or gender variant' condition but I do recognize that for any insurance related reimbursement the health care provider does need to catagorize the 'patient' as having some sort of condition that merits treatment.
Pat
Just as a newspaper will punch the weight of the number of it's readers, so when you speak you don't just speak for yourself, but for all those voters who read your blog (they don't know that we don't all vote in the USA)
ReplyDelete>> Some good news: they acknowledge that we're not "disordered."
ReplyDeleteThat would be nice if it were true. However, in DSM5, as presently proposed, Gender Dysphoria is a diagnosis species that belongs to the genus "Gender Identity DISORDERS" (emphasis was added). In short, they STILL say we are disordered. And Mentally Disordered to be precise.
HHB ~ drop me a note. I need to know more. Is it like, say, (I am making up an example) a hyperactive disorder where ADHD and "fidgety" fit under the same "disorder" umbrella? Where one is just a mild aspect of the issue?
ReplyDeleteI do acknowledge, as Pat wrote, that the diagnosis is so they can get the insurance company to pay for treatment, and whatever little pill they come up with to fix it. But I don't agree with ANYONE that gender variant, gender creative, gender enhanced... is a problem.