I just wanted to know, has anyone ever met someone else who has gender dysphoria who is disabled in some way?  If so, did you notice any kind of differences in how they dealt with their disphoric nature or how they handled transition?  The only reason I bring up this topic, is that maybe I can't really accept myself fully because of some kind of perception I have in being disabled which is making the issue not present itself in quite the right manner.  Also I have never heard of individual who is gender dysphoric and handicapped, I know that one does not relate to the other, but I just want to know that there is someone other than me out there. 

I know of one who is paralyzed from the neck down in a motorised wheel chair who is trans and transitioning. She has a care giver who helps her to dress and do her make up and hair. Her drive to be who she believes herself to be is as strong as any other fully able bodied trans person at the support group.

Tonight there was a deaf person transitioning from male to female who had a care giver who did all the sign language for her. This person appeared to be just as anxious and enthusiastic in her transitioning as any other fully abled person at the meeting.

Cindy

thanks for the reply, damn paralyzed from the neck down and still going through this.  I feel horrible about myself now.  It is good to know though.  Hopefully I can figure myself out. 

Hi lauren, Well it certainly proves one thing to me, being trans and experiencing GID the need to be who we feel we are within our core selves has nothing to do with the outer physical body. It's an inside job.

Cindy

I know a wheelchair-bound FtM.  He has transitioned, and is very active in the local Trans community.  I've met a few deaf trans people, as well.  A number of us also have neurological or psychological disorders that we deal with simultaneously with transitioning.  Asperger's Syndrome seems to be somewhatly common among FtMs, for example.

Lauren, I'm not disabled but am some what handicap due to Multiple Sclerosis. I walk with a cane.  If anything,it helped me face my issues and act on them to try to scratch the itch I have always had. How I see myself lately is as a non op FTM that has taken refuge in living as an androgyne. I do Dr. supervised HRT and am on several drugs for MS so the cocktail is a delicate balance.
Maybe being handicap makes you feel more in the spot light and open to doubt and percieved criticism. I'm in a good place  right now, I can express my femininiy, be for the most part accepted by people at work and socially and at least working towards accepting and remedying my GIS.
Down here, people are tolerant in public and friendly so that helps.

Lauren, I have systemic illness (lupus and some other complications), and wrote about the interplay of that and problems with gender identity over on Dreamwidth.

For what it's worth, while my underlying condition isn't going anywhere, I'm finding improvements on many specific manifestations since I realized I'm trans. Self-loathing made everything worse; self-acceptance doesn't make everything better, but it does help a lot of parts.

Another poster here answered a question of mine with a pointer to some writing about trans people with AIDS. I need to get to the main library here and hit the reference section to check out citations; if I come across anything good, I'd be glad to pass it along.

You're definitely not alone.

Thank you for your story.  I don't have anywhere near as many issues you do.  My most confusing part for me is that when I was a child, my gender didn't bother me at all, but once I was it my later teens, issues started to spring up.  I had doubts that I actually was tramsgemder since I didn't feel anything until later.  I thought at one point that I feel this way because I didn't mourn my mother's death properly.  My mother and I were pretty close, and so I thought that maybe my mind was substitituing some kind of girl feelings and fantasies since I no longer had any female person within my life.  I felt like such a nerd because at first I was just a crossdreser and then one day realized I needed more than just the clothes.  After I seriously contemplated what being a transsexual  really meant I came to conclusion that my CP will defininantly get in the way.  It is something I am just going to have to deal with.  My biggest fear is that no one will believe I have gender dysphoria since I don't really have any female traits whatsoever.  This led to me to believe that in addition to being physically handicapped, I was also mentally disabled in some way as well.  When I am concentrating on other things my dysphoria isn't that bad and sometimes I think it is actually gone, but then it eventually returns and gets stronger  When I started going to college, I noticed that I liked hanging out with girls that were remarkably similar to me in some way,  I never really notiecd until just recently that this type of behavior could be my dysphoric nature expressing itself in an odd fashion.  I guess my mind feels "if I can never become the girl I want to be due to my disabilities, then I will just live it out through other girls."  Anyway I will stop boring everyone with my long drawn out post. 

Lauren: "My biggest fear is that no one will believe I have gender dysphoria since I don't really have any female traits whatsoever." Well, you're among folks who believe you now, for starters.

Cerebral palsy will get in the way, yes, but...everybody's got something that gets in the way, it looks like to me. Whether it's medical, or children who depend on you and don't get it, or whatever, there's always something.

True, we all have baggage.  I guess I am trying to erase my doubts and am looking for evidence to prove my transsexualism, but there really isn't any.  I know you all believe me.  I just want to have more to bring to the table than, "hey I feel like a girl and want to transition."