Supporting Wellbeing of Gender Non-Conforming Persons
Panel Summary: In this session, Panellists discussed some of the needs and experiences of trans people and how to better support the transgender community in a respectful manner. Tensions between data visibility and safety were brought up, for example, through questions such as how can we balance LGBTQ+ community data while preserving the safety of data subjects? Issues were raised about privacy, data representation, user presentation, legacies of distrust, pink washing, the need for services to address the needs of trans people, and the need for co-design (i.e., not making assumptions about what is needed). Further discussions centred around how to support transgender people in the workplace (e.g., trans people who could be frightened to come out, fearful about sharing feelings with colleagues etc.) and how unconscious bias and micro aggressions play a key role in these situations and spaces. Other topics covered included the importance of having gender neutral toilet/washroom facilities, and also about domestic abuse in the LGBTQ+ community (e.g., the reluctance to report abuse due to a lack of trust in law enforcement). Panellists also spoke about the impact of the pandemic to the community, for example, delaying access to appointments they need and other core challenges around access to services and being excluded from services (e.g., access to cervical screening). Panellists also covered issues around stigma, discrimination, legal contexts, religious contexts, psychosocial and environmental factors (e.g., homelessness, migration, difficulties in getting accommodation) and how there is no specific data on how transgender people are being impacted during Covid19. Panelists spoke about their healthcare journeys, for example, their gender referral process, gender clinics, and the cost of accessing hormone therapy and surgeries, or when there are no funds to support this how self-care healthcare takes alternative routes through self-medication etc. There was a specific concern raised about newly out trans persons and how it can be quite a worrying an uncertain time for them and also an emphasis was placed on the importance of talking about transitioning and educating others (e.g., in school settings) - rather than just shutting the conversation down, the conversation needs to be opened up.
Live Panel Recording 5/08/21
Panellists
Cami Rincon
Public Sector AI Ethics and Governance, the Alan Turing Institute
Cami Rincon is the Research Assistant in Public Sector AI Ethics and Governance at The Alan Turing Institute. Cami’s research has focused on trans needs within voice AI. This work discusses trans-specific vulnerabilities within representation, both in data and user-facing design, cautioning against representation when not paired with trans users’ primary concern: privacy.
Speaking From Experience: Trans and Non-Binary Requirements from Voice AI was accepted at the 24th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, developed into a course for The University of The Arts London’s Creative Computing Institute, and is informing the development of Syb, a voice interface which will connect users to trans media (co-created with Feminist Internet, and selected for The New New Fellowship 2021).
Joanne Monck OBE
Global Head of Education and National Head of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion for BelieveGlobalCIC/The Believe Foundation supporting all victims of Domestic Abuse
I transitioned at the age of 58 after considering suicide. Since then I have never been so happy. I am a triple award winner including an OBE in the 2021 New Year Honours list for Services to Transgender Equality as a Global LGBT Advocate and Independent Advisor. I am passionate about raising awareness and understanding of the Transgender community. I serve on 7 advisory panels for Sussex Police. I am an independent advisor on LGBT hate crime for the South East Crown Prosecution Services. I am a Stonewall Schools Role Model, and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion advisor to the Bluebell Heritage Railway. I am an Advisor and consultant to the Global Equality Collective, an Ambassador and Consultant for Includabilty recruitment, and an Ambassador for the Miranda Brawn Diversity in Leadership Foundation. I am also a Global Pride Inclusion Advocate for Pride Life.
Amrita Sarkar
Advisor: Transgender Wellbeing and Advocacy, India HIV/AIDS Alliance
Amrita Sarkar has been involved with transgender activism for more than two decades and has been involved in numerous capacity building initiatives for transgender community at the national and global level. She is the one of the founding members and the Secretary of IRGT – A Global Network of Trans Women and HIV. She is a member of TPATH (Transgender Professional Association for Transgender Health) and recently has been chosen as a Faculty Member by WPATH. Amrita is currently working as the Advisor: Transgender Wellbeing and Advocacy, at Alliance India, Delhi. She has made three films on transgender issues. She is a trained counsellor and has completed her post-graduation in social welfare.
George White
Teacher of Religious Education, St. Paul's Catholic School, Leicester & LGBT delegate for the East Midlands at the NEU & Trustee at Million Minutes
George White is a transgender and Catholic teacher of Religious Education at a Catholic secondary school in Leicester. He holds a BA in Philosophy and Theology from Heythrop College, an MA in Global Ethics and Human Values from King's College London and a Secondary PGCE in Religious Studies from the University of Cambridge.
He is particularly interested in LGBT Inclusion in Catholic Schools and works with school leaders, national education unions, Catholic organisations and dioceses to provide support and training sessions to improve pastoral care for LGBT staff and pupils within Catholic education.
Michelle Maddison
Chairperson for the Hertfordshire Transgender Steerage Group & Part of Spot The Signs group run by Mind and HPFT on Suicide awareness & more
I am a 50-year-old Transgender Woman who spent 41 years of her life pretending to be something I never should have been ,but they were different times. More difficult times for anyone LGBT or questioning given the implementation of section 28 in1988 and then the AIDS epidemic of the 1990s My Mental Health has been a constant battle and I have experienced such adversity due to Mental Health lack of experience ,understanding or qualifications on gender dysphoria , Transgenderism and the impact and effects of cross sex hormones.For this very reason I engage with the organisations beneath in the hope to make a positive difference.Full affiliations: (1) Chairperson for the Hertfordshire Transgender Steerage Group (2) Chairperson for the Service User Council with HPFT (3) Part of the Hertfordshire LGBT panel (4) Part of Spot The Signs group run by Mind and HPFT on Suicide awareness (5) Filmed with PinkNews (6) Volunteer coordinator for HertsPride (7) Co-founded Trans-Fusion CIC (8) Helps train Hertfordshire Police Hertfordshire Police cadets by giving talks on being a Transgender with MH struggles (9) Role model with Acceptance Herts and also with TSG/TSG SOFA (10) Volunteer Listener with LGBT Switchboard in London.
Pavel Sagolsem (Ze/They)
Co-Founder of The Chinky Homo Project
Pavel is a nonbinary femme person and the co-founder of The Chinky Homo Project, which seeks to archive lived realities of queer persons from Northeast India. A queer feminist by practice, they have worked with Centre for Health and Social Justice; Breakthrough India and Nazariya: A Queer Feminist Resource Group on diverse concerns of Gender Equality, Youth Empowerment, Mental Health, and LGBTQIA+ rights and inclusion. Formally trained in Applied Linguistic, Translational Studies, and Gender Studies, through their work, they try to understand themselves and the community they belong to better.
Trans health, mental health, technology, data representativeness and protection
A report published in 2018 by the Trevor Project, the world's largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ youth, found that 40% of those who identify as LGBTQ+ have seriously considered suicide in the last year, and that 54% of transgender and gender-nonbinary youth had seriously considered suicide in the last year, with nearly a third of those having attempted suicide (1). However, the Trevor Project also found that 13-24 year old LGBTQ+ youth who had a positive adult role model were 40% less likely to report a suicide attempt in the past year and for transgender and gender-nonconforming youth, this number is expected to be even higher (2,3,4).
Organisations have called for greater representation of the LGBTQ+ community in national data (5). For example, Justin Nelson, co-founder and president of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce stated: "We are invisible in federal statistics” (6), Cathy Renna, the communications director at the National LGBTQ Task Force stated: "If we don't get counted, we don't count" (7), and Helen Jones, CEO of MindOut, the UK-wide dedicated LGBT mental health charity points out that there is no national data kept on suicide for LGBT and that: "LGBT lives are being lost and we need to know more. Recording this data must be a nationwide campaign" (8). At the same time, data breaches involving stolen data about sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or attempting or considering suicide can be used as a weapon to harm people, placing them in potentially very dangerous positions. How do we get the balance right between increasing the representation of the LGBTQ+ community in data, while keeping information safe?
Background reading
Speaking from Experience: Trans/Non-Binary Requirements for Voice-Activated AI
Authors: Cami Rincón, Os Keyes, and Corinne Cath.
Published: 2021. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 5, CSCW1, Article 132 (April 2021), 27 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3449206
LGBTQ+ Online Scams: How to Spot Them and Stay Safe from Harm
Author: Elly Hancock
'Young People Are Taking Control Over Their Gender Identity.' New Research Examines Diversity of Nonbinary Youth
Author: Madeleine Carlisle, Times
Published: July 2021
Supporting Transgender & Gender-Nonconforming (T/GNC) Youth in Massachusetts
A brief produced by the Evidence-Based Policy Institute, Judge Baker Children’s Center
Authors: Jacob Hicks, Matthew Pecoraro, MSW Editors: Christopher Bellonci, MD Special thanks to: Hiba Abousleiman, Sarah Austin, and Ellen Latsko
April 2021
The Trevor Project Research Brief: Diversity of Nonbinary Youth
Published: July 2021
Author: The Trevor Project. For more information please contact: Research@TheTrevorProject.org
TRANS PATHWAYS REPORT: THE MENTAL HEALTH EXPERIENCES AND CARE PATHWAYS OF TRANS YOUNG PEOPLE
Summary of Results: Penelope Strauss, Angus Cook, Sam Winter, Vanessa Watson, Dani Wright Toussaint, Ashleigh Lin
Published: Telethon Kids Institute, Australia
Effectiveness, Acceptability, and Feasibility of Digital Health Interventions for LGBTIQ+ Young People: Systematic Review
Authors: Dylan Gilbey BSc (Hons); Helen Morgan BA (Hons); Ashleigh Lin BSc (Hons), MPsych, PhD; Yael Perry BPsych (Hons), MPsych, PhD
Published: J Med Internet Res 2020 | vol. 22 | iss. 12 | e20158 https://www.jmir.org/2020/12/e20158
The first-ever National Transgender Summit reaffirmed the rights of the transgender community
Authors: Anurag Paul and Amrita Sarkar
Published: 16 April 2021
Accessing and utilising gender-affirming healthcare in England and Wales: trans and non-binary people's accounts of navigating gender identity clinics
Authors: Talen Wright, Emily Jay Nicholls, Alison J Rodger, Fiona M Burns, Peter Weatherburn, Roger Pebody, Leanne McCabe, Aedan Wolton, Mitzy Gafos, T Charles Witzel
Published: BMC Health Serv Res . 2021 Jun 28;21(1):609. doi: 10.1186/s12913-021-06661-4.
The Role of the Avatar in Gaming for Trans and Gender Diverse Young People
Authors: Helen Morgan, Amanda O’Donovan, Renita Almeida, Ashleigh Lin, Yael Perry
Published: Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 8617; doi:10.3390/ijerph17228617
Trans and gender diverse young people's attitudes towards game-based T digital mental health interventions: A qualitative investigation
Authors: Penelope Straussa, Helen Morgana, Dani Wright Toussainta, Ashleigh Lina, Sam Winterd, Yael Perry
Published: Internet Interventions 18 (2019) 100280
At least four teens have attempted suicide after Arkansas bans trans youth from getting healthcare
AuthorL Alex Bollinger
Published: 19 April 2021
Draft Guidance: Collecting and reporting data about sex in official statistics
Published: 25 February 2021
Last updated on 25 June 2021
Produced by Office for Statistics Regulation
More resources coming soon. Please contact becky@beckyinkster.com if you’d like to suggest more resources.