Hospitals denied my child life-saving surgery because he was autistic: Guest opinion

Though I’ve experienced bias myself, whenever I read stories like this, I’m still gobsmacked by how much worse it can get.  There really is no bottom to the abyss of ignorance and apathy.  That this bias is set toward children, that doctors – at a children’s hospital – would refuse to save this child’s life – when they absolutely could – it goes against every decency, it is a complete obscenity.  

Hospitals denied my child life-saving surgery because he was autistic: Guest opinion

Transgender people face two-year wait

euryale-dreams:

tranarchist:

3999999:

thecringeandwincefactory:

anarcho-rokabilly:

tranarchist:

Transgender people are waiting up to two and a half years for initial consultations at NHS gender identity clinics.

This is despite an NHS England pledge in 2016 to bring waiting times to below 18 weeks by 2018.

The average wait from receiving a GP referral to getting a first appointment is 18 months.

Needless to say this is completely unacceptable and the denial of healthcare for literal years leads directly to preventable trans suicides- which the gender clinics don’t even acknowledge.

Even worse is that the only reason there is any waiting time at all is because of the perceived need to “““diagnose”““ trans people. As James Barrett, the current head of Charing Cross gender clinic states- “The least certain diagnosis is that made by the patient, made as it is without any training or objectivity” (x).
Trans people can’t simply be trusted to know that they are trans, only a medical “specialist” is supposedly qualified to know this.

If it wasn’t for this inherently transphobic gatekeeping, trans people could be prescribed hormones and referred for other treatments directly by their doctors- just the same as cis people- on the basis of informed consent.

Hey this is what i’m going through RIght Now :)))

This is asinine. Stay strong ❤️

what this neglects to mention is that 2 years is more or less the SHORTEST time you’ll have to wait. I’ve talked to people who’ve been told they’ll wait at least 5 years.

and this is not the time you wait to get on hormones, oh no, this is just the first appointment. you’ll need at least two depending on the practice. the appointments can be several months apart. the only way to get treatment sooner is going private but not everyone can afford £250 appointments + travel costs. so basically if you’re poor and trans in the uk it’s incredibly difficult.

Yep I waited over a year for my first appointment at Charing Cross only to find out it was going to be almost another whole year before the second one.

They absolutely refuse to approve hrt after the first appointment regardless of if you’ve socially transitioned.

In fact in the mid-2000s Barrett and other staff at Charing Cross tried to have another doctor there struck off from the medical register for failing to follow this arbitrary waiting period because he was approving hrt on the first appointment based on individual circumstances (they failed, but he retired soon after). And they also come after gps prescribing hrt to trans people.

They really are insistent that trans people be denied hormones as long as possible.

That last point about them going after GPs who circumvent their violence is why I will never in my life support a gender clinic, regardless of how “good” they are: The clinics are intently motivated to undermine independent, trans friendly physicians because a world that does not need specialist clinics for trans people is a world that does not need them.

Transgender people face two-year wait

Happy to report my mum’s surgery went very well – and no sign of cancer.  They can’t give her 100% all-clear, but she’s home and no follow-up treatment necessary.  

My little sister, unfortunately, still has at least another 3 months to go. 

My deepest thanks to those of you who have written to me and offered support.  I’m very grateful.  

Best wishes, everyone.  

onlyayangel:

onlyayangel:

the president of the grammys really said women didn’t get the recognition they deserved because they need to “step up,” yet he said he can’t wait to see taylor swift next year……… boy bye

kesha sang about healing after being raped and she lost to a bland song about the shape of a woman’s body. lorde wrote a whole album about being cheated on and the struggles of being a teenage girl and she was the only aoty nom to not be asked to perform solo. lady gaga’s album was about the passing of her aunt and how to deal with a loss and she didn’t win. sza, who was the most nominated female, wrote an album about the hardship and beauty of being a black woman and lost in every category. all of these women wrote about their emotions and setbacks, and they were all snubbed. but go ahead, give taylor swift multiple grammys because she wrote a catchy song about how “bad” she is for tricking a black man into looking like a villain.