DSD & DSM5
http://mishmich.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/dsd-dsm5/11/15/11
Posted by mishmich
Recently I have found myself in some heated discussions online about DSM5′s proposed splitting of Gender Identity Disorder(GID) + GID Not Otherwise Specified (GID.NOS) into two new types, Gender Dysphoria (GD) with Disorder of Sex Development (DSD) & without DSD. My main objection to this was that it reinforces the use of disorder to describe intersex people's medical conditions.
However, I have been made aware that unlike the UK, from where I draw my experience, a GID diagnosis draws no funding from public health providers or insurers. In the UK intersex people's access to treatment to deal with issues they might have about gender assignment is currently made more complicated if their health authority insists they have to access treatment via a Gender Identity Clinic (GIC). But, having intersex specified would make things easier if access has to be via a GIC (said with a caveat: UK GIC's tend to use ICD-10 rather than DSM-IV at present). But in countries like the USA & Australia (where DSM is followed), such treatment is more easily accessible to intersex people than transsexual people, because having a recognised intersex condition means funding can be available, while GID is not funded out of public or insurance healths schemes. In that situation, inclusion of DSD within DSM5 may be harmful to intersex people, because if they are forced to go via a GIC and are there required to have a GD diagnosis, they may not be able to access funds for some interventions they need to address issues arising from their original assignment in a way they can now.
