Hiring transgender people as mentally ill?

[Renate]

Transparent: Love, Family, and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers (2007) - Cris Beam * Amazon * WorldCat

And I've come across something that I've never heard of before:

You can find out about the telemarketing company that hires transgender youth, no matter what they look like, to sell garbage bags and first-aid kits over the telephone.  Of course, for the job you'll have to memorize a script saying that you're handicapped and that these household items are offered at a higher price because they provide employment to handicapped people like yourself.  And though it makes you sick to say it, this technically won't be a lie; transgender people are still dubbed "mentally ill" by the medical community, the way gay people were in the seventies.

Kind of sickening.

[IsabelleStPierre]

Sounds like it was written by someone who doesn't truly understand...both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association recognize gender identity as legitimate medical problem. The only reason it's listed in DSM-IV is because the medical association wants to make sure someone was absolutely sure before medically altering their body...

Like I said...sounds like someone who isn't completely aware of all the aspects here...but that's just my opinion...I can't honestly know what someone else was thinking...

Peace and love,
Isabelle St-Pierre

[IsabelleStPierre]

Ops...sorry...took it in the wrong direction...

Yes, I have heard of pseudo-charity telemarketing boiler rooms. There are lots of problems in the telemarketing area and fly by night boiler rooms are a frequent problem.

Peace and love,
Isabelle St-Pierre

[Lisbeth]

The only reason it's listed in DSM-IV is because the medical association wants to make sure someone was absolutely sure before medically altering their body...

Nevertheless, that book is the Diagnosic Systems Manual of Mental Disorders.  You can't get around that fact that GID is listed as a mental disorder.

[Hurin_Steadfast]

So they are required to out themself to everyone they call? In other words, if you refuse to stick to the script, you won't be hired?

[Jay]

I know about that Renate, my therapy is funded under the mental health department.. in one way I can understand why it is.. but on the other hand it is very degrading.

My five pence..

[Rachael]

Transgender people may still be mentally ill in the US, but in the uk, weve evolved medically since the 60s...
here its a medical condition.
R

[Steph]

Telemarketing firms do many things to try and get customers to buy, or buy into the products they are pushing. It's a common practice in North American, and given that human nature is similar everywhere, I dare say the practice is common everywhere.  The fact that a person may be "T" really has no bearing on it, the person doing the calling could be suffering from any number of conditions, both mental and physical ones.  I imagine that a person who believes them self to be be perfectly healthy having to say the suffered from a mental disorder would feel the same way as we might.

Steph

[Sheila]

It's funny how a physical surgery can cure a mental problem. Just being stupid here.
Sheila

[Jay]

Transgender people may still be mentally ill in the US, but in the UK, weve evolved medically since the 60s...
Here it's a medical condition.
R

Yes it is a medical condition however it does come under mental health. And in my first letter from my doctor referring me for therapy they used the word "disorder" and "dilemma" .

[cindybc]

Well following the entire procedure with the help of my psych got me to the weenie removal room.

Cindy