[Adrian]

I’m not sure how clinically valid this web page is, but it certainly points to a growing awareness of a coupling between the two diagnoses.
https://autismawarenesscentre.com/autism-transgender-gender-dysphoria/

HOWEVER
Can we please be very careful about quoting figures like 20% and assuming they must apply to the general population.
Most statistics for the gender diverse population are heavily skewed by the way the transgender subjects are recruited. For example in the web page I read there is a quote:

Quote:

“Between 8 and 10 percent of children and adolescents seen at gender clinics around the world meet the diagnostic criteria for autism

That does NOT mean that 10% of gender diverse people have autism. The statistic only applies to those [people who at some point pass through a gender clinic. Most researchers use data from gender clinics as it is easy to collect but it reflects only a small percentage of the GD population. It probably includes a greater number of people who need significant assistance on their journey for whatever reason.

Anecdotally, over 20 years I have met and know a lot of trans people – most of whom have never been near a gender clinic in their life and many of whom are clearly gender dysphoric. Whilst I agree that there are plenty of examples of trans people who display some symptoms of Asbergers there is no way that 1 in 5 of my contacts can be classified in that way. The true statistic is much, much lower.

I’m happy to be proved wrong when over 60 TgR members respond to this thread in the affirmative saying they have some symptoms of Asbergers. Holding my breath…..

[Adrian]

ClaireStafford wrote:

But I fear we might be heading for a chastisement, getting off topic as we are. :ohmy:

Claire – so correct – one is heading in this direction….

[Adrian]

December 2017 Meet-up Picture

[Adrian]

Like Faulty Towers, the Marigold Hotel is funny because so many aspects actually exist in real hotels. We stayed in many places which could have been competing for the Third Best Marigold Hotel award. Which is actually why we so love traveling in India.
Take a look at this Trip Advisor review for a particularly fun “Marigold Hotel” we stayed in. Basil Faulty would have been proud of it.
https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowUserReviews-g297647-d4831215-r547257593-Hammeer_Garhi_Heritage_Resort-Khajuraho_Chhatarpur_District_Madhya_Pradesh.html

[Adrian]

Thank you to everyone who has shared their experiences in the Gender Diversity survey.
The survey is now closed, with 243 validated responses – that is nearly 70% of the current membership. This means that the survey is probably fairly representative of the TgR membership, if not of the Gender Diverse community as a whole.

Over the coming months I hope to be able to analyse all the data, and currently am aiming to get a report ready for presentation at Transformal in May. That is the plan… now let’s see what happens!

[Adrian]

November 2017 Meetup

[Adrian]

Thanks Caroline for the timely reminder of a good T themed movie to watch this Christmas. “The Boy in the Dress’ is in the great tradition of BBC Christmas films – generally fun, feel good, with a touch of spice thrown in. We watched it last night on iView – light hearted but with a serious message in its soft underbelly. Nice movie!

[Adrian]

Liz,
Satisfaction is closely linked to the expectations you have for HRT. If you have unreasonable expectations then you are pretty certain to be disappointed. HRT is not a universal panacea for every challenge you encounter being transgender in contemporary society – there are lots of things you may have to work on yourself without the aid of miracle medicine or surgery. But HRT does have some pretty profound effects.

Over the years I’ve heard a wide range of expectations for what HRT is to achieve, and I’ve seen some people pretty dissatisfied about the failure to achieve those goals.

The most common expectation I hear is wanting breasts. Although HRT will give most people breast growth, the size and shape is not as predictable as buying a set of breast forms, and you may be disappointed – particularly if your expectation is for a Dolly Parton set. Natural breasts of any size do make you feel more feminine than silicon additions but they take time. Give yourself 18 to 24 months or you will be disappointed – and forget taking high doses to speed things along – there is no evidence that the level of estrogen in your blood affects the rate of development. I observe that patience (measured in years) is something that is rare in our “I want it, and I want it now” society.

There are other physical changes that people hope that the wonder drugs in HRT may achieve. Yes it will soften your skin, change to some degree body hair growth, give you a bigger butt. But all these things are side effects and you have to have low expectations to be satisfied. Sadly many people have such high expectations they set themselves up to be disappointed.

HRT does have profound effects on your brain that are manifested in your thoughts, emotions, and social behaviours. These changes happen on low doses of HRT and start to be visible (often to others) within months of taking medication. If your reason for taking HRT is to reduce the dissonance that affects your life, the distress caused by maleness fighting against an inner femininity, then HRT will probably bring previously unimagined improvements to your quality of life.

I have been on HRT now for 9 years (yes that is years not months!). I certainly didn’t want to grow breasts (thanks to all that rubbish people post about them being too hard to hide) so I started on low doses – but the breasts grew anyway.
I did want to try anything to make me less angry and stressed inside – I saw HRT as a way to make me a nicer, happier person. And judging by the contentment I feel, and the feedback from others, it achieved that – the stress of mental dissonance evaporated – I’m a happy satisfied customer.

[Adrian]

Maybe the last word on this topic will come from the TgR Gender Diversity survey (which closes this weekend)

A quick analysis of the answers so far shows that in response to the question
How do you feel about being part of the gender diverse community?

57% of those answering accept their true gender identity and embrace it in their life
Sadly 12% wish that they weren’t gender diverse

More details when the final responses are in and the full analysis is done.

[Adrian]

I intend to close the survey off this weekend. New submissions have slowed to a trickle, so I assume everyone who wanted to contribute has done so. If not, hurry and get your response in before Monday.

[Adrian]

I’ve just returned from an overseas trip from Sydney, through Singapore, to India. The only place I encountered the dreaded full-body scanners on this trip was leaving Australia. I was ‘selected’ to go through the scanner rather than the simple metal detector gate and unsurprisingly the result was ‘suspicious’. The operator had keyed in MALE (sighs!) and my upper body was coloured pink in the scan (surprise, surprise). Even though I had put on an uncomfortably tight sports bra there was no fooling the technology.
I advised the operator (female) that I was Transgender and that was why the scanner didn’t like me. Her eyes lit up! I’m guessing she had sat through all that training about Transgender passengers and had never had a chance to put the training into practice.
First she offered to scan me again as FEMALE(I refused the offer as it would have only transferred the problem elsewhere). Then she proceeded to tell me all the rights I have (including a private screening) and selecting the gender of the person doing the screening. I assured her that I was happy for her to check me out – she felt under my arms and let me go. Smiles all round and a great start to the holiday.
All in all 10/10 for Sydney Airport – and no reason to worry about the scanners there.

[Adrian]

October 2017 Meetup

).

[Adrian]

September 2017 Meetup

[Adrian]

Thanks for the feedback Alana.

Alana_Alan wrote:

…this survey seems from memory very different from the 2011 version.

.
Six years was a long time! The biggest difference is that I removed quite a few questions that either didn’t elicit meaningful data last time, or which were only intended to be one-off. But there is only one new question in the survey this time. Some other questions have been changed to multiple choice based on answers given in 2011. But the correlation between the two surveys should be quite strong.

[Adrian]

Sara_Timms wrote:

How are you planning to use the data?

Sara… now you’ve done the survey I guess you answered your question….as in the preamble it said….

Quote:

How will this survey be reported?

After the survey responses have been collected a report will be prepared for circulation to voluntary and government organisations in Australia. The report will also be made publicly available on the TgR website. The report will not include any information that refers to any specific individual’s responses.
Access to the raw data will not be provided to any third party.