Steph wrote:
"Why on earth would a person not want to find out what is going on? Therapy is definitely a way of finding out.
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The best pychiatrist is the one inside each and everyone of us. Of course that means being truthful to oneself. I believe most people given the appropriate amount of time will easily figure out what is going on with themselves. There are those who DO NEED therapy BUT NOT ALL DO.
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Additionally most places require that you have been in therapy before prescriptions for HRT. And yes the SOC does recommend HRT be granted to those who choose to go it alone, if for nothing else to protect their health.
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I think I made my point re the above.
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I dealt with the Clarke myself and chose to seek out my own therapist. As far as "some recommending completing RLT before anything else" in some cases is a valid option and obviously not appropriate in all cases, and not ridiculous, after all there is no requirement that you complete your RLT in the construction industry, you have to be able to live your life as follows:
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OK Steph so you think that it just fine for an institution to damand that someone with GID be forced to live as a Transvestite for a full year 24 hours a day and 7 days a week before even being considered for HRT. That is simply setting someone up for failure, not to mention the likely loss of livelyhood the mental and physical abuse that very likely will ensue during this course of time?
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I happen to think that it is quite CRUEL myself!!
Perhaps the costs of your transtition have not had to come out of your own pocket. BTW I spent 2 1/2 years worring about loosing my livelyhood, before the compulsion to fully transtition simply became over powering. In short I had resigned myself to the fact that I may end up serving Big Macs or slinging coffee for the remainder of my Life! as well as not knowing how I would ever PAY for my Transition.
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- To maintain full or part-time employment;
- To function as a student;
- To function in community-based volunteer activity;
- To undertake some combination of items 1-3;
- To acquire a (legal) gender-identity-appropriate first name;
- To provide documentation that persons other than the therapist know that the patient functions in the desired gender role.
and I don't see anything wrong with that.
So did you stop working in the construction industry until the effects of HRT took effect, or did you continue while you continued your transition?
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I was on a temporary lay-off when I began DIY HRT. I was called back 6 weeks later. I came out to my employer approximately 3 1/2 months after that. 2 1/2 months after that I was laid off again assumably due to a lack of work and the fact that my employer was suppose to be winding down the biz so he could retire. At that time I had about 9 months of EI and lets just say that I was unable to find work in my occupation during that time. I will go further to say that during that time of looking for work I ran into the typical gender barriers of a female looking for work in construction ie Woman are incapable of this type of work, and / or Transphobia. This solely lies with the Non-Union constractors in Nova Scotia. I further experienced further direct discrimination earlier this year March to be exact while working in Alberta at Syncrude. I was in a construction camp and had been assigned to the womans dorm. One week later the camp security knocks on my door at about 9 PM and demands to see my DL. Without thinking I produced it. Based solely on the gender marker with total disregard for my clinical diagnosis as being GID of the Male to Female type I was informed that the following night I would be moved into the mens dorm. I will add that none of the woman in the dorm had complained about my presence and basically accepted me being there. I spent the following day trying to resolve the issue to no effect. This was totally unacceptable as they had not even offered me a co-ed dorm,so I quite and returned to Nova Scotia. I currently have a Human Rights Case filed against the company I was working for. My name finally bubbled to the top of the hiring list here in Nova Scotia and my union dispatched me. I have been gainfully employed since then. I assume I am a valuable employee as non of the contractors that I know are willing to pay Union rates for unqualified workers!
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I doubt very much that arrogance has anything to do with it, more like they don't want some wacko suing their butt off because they didn't use the due diligence that the Province mandates them to use in order to maintain funding.
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It does NOT take a FULL year to determine if one is GID or NOT. The 'Clarke' has a very poor reputation in Canada when it comes to dealing with the transexual community and its members. Quite often by playing someone along with the carrot in front of them and then denying services at the end of their stipulated time frames etc. The power brokers there strike me as Cruel at best and most certainly ARROGANT!!
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As to law suits they are a joke in Canada to begin with unless one is very well connected or has the money to pay for a high powered attorney and specialists. Speaking from experience by the way!
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One other thing Steph. Did I not read somewhere that you are in fact employed by the government? The position is irrelavent as the benefits of government employees are quite luxurioius compared to the the private sector.
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Steph
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Byee,
Brina
