NHS to test all 'transgender' children for autism / same-sex attraction

No, nobody will bypass the assessment waiting lists. If a trans young person needs a full autism assessment, once screened, my understanding from what I have been told of plans, working in this field, is that they would be placed on the waiting list for assessment along with all the other children and young people.

In all cases it should be identified and addressed appropriately.

I assume this is the whole point of the holistic assessments.

And if they aren't autistic, what?

This is a good example of identity politics rotting people's brains IMO. It's the same as a discussion of a bad policy about something like benefits, where people say things like, "Oh, this is bad because it will affect black women poorly." No, it's bad because it's a bad policy that will affect anyone who it pertains to badly.

For some reason - by which I mean, because they have been trained to only think through that lens - a lot of people now only seem to be able to look at problems in so far as they relate to special groups.

There are no children who are really born in the wrong body. If kids are experiencing some kinds of body issues or say they are, there is something else wrong, which may need to be explored, or in other cases it may be social contagion or grooming, or evidence of BPD or trauma, whatever. In all cases it should be identified and addressed appropriately. Not just for those who happen to belong special groups.

I think what this holistic assessment signifies is a shift away from assuming that any child who uses the word 'trans' is automatically on a puberty blocker followed by cross sex hormones and surgery pathway.

It instead starts with an open mind, looks at the child and child's situation holistically, considers possible co morbidities and treatments, allows for the possibility that 'no treatment' is the best option (see the recent detail for enquiry for the adult services, here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/key-lines-of-enquiry-review-of-the-nhs-adult-gender-dysphoria-clinics-in-england/)

If parents present a child trying to 'trans away the gay', it seems far more likely this will be picked up on and challenged.

If a child is in need of mental health support, trauma care, etc, this should be picked up on (the state of that support is another subject entirely, of course, but we have to start somewhere).

I think the title of this thread does not accurately represent the article.. which only mentions same sex attraction in passing.

I also think that this shift is helpful and reflective of a shift in approach to neurodiversity focusing not on how people with neurodiversity should learn to adapt to our neuro typical society but on how our neurotypical society can adapt to their neurodiversity and also to consider what impact medication has and how best to use it strategically, where the benefits outweigh the potential harms (which exist for all medications!!) rather than seeing all presentations of neurodiversity as something that needs to be chemically altered.

Given that’s it’s already well established that children who identify as trans are disproportionately more likely to be autistic, I’m not sure what this new initiative hopes to achieve. If the suggestion is that if they are autistic, then they shouldn’t be acknowledged as trans in the way a non-autistic child might be, then you can expect howls of protest on disability discrimination grounds.

Yes that was my first thought too.

I'm glad the link is acknowledged when people working with children have long spotted it.

But..... I guess the problem is still the homophobia and sexism in society. I know of several teenage girls who realised they were gay and came out as such, only for that identity to morph into pan/ non binary/ trans. What is it about the identity of "lesbian" which makes it so unappealing?

And what about the bias of some healthcare workers themselves? Most autism charities leapt aboard the trans trend seemingly unconcerned by the eugenic undertones of exposing so many autistic young people to potential sterilisation?

My guess is that they’ll just screen?

I'm very much hoping that diagnosis will be less 'Yes, you like trains so you are a boy' and more 'Do you think girls can't like trains?'

Re: sexuality, I don't think they would be asking young children 'are you gay?'

I think it's more likely that they would be asking in an age appropriate way what they thought future family and relationships might look like, and whether they thought that depended on transition.

A symptom of being taught by gender ideologists that people must conform to sex stereotypes and if they don’t they must be trans.

So you are saying children who do not declare they are trans, but who may well have other comorbid mental health conditions, will have to wait years and years for assessment. Whereas those who state the magic word ‘trans’ get assessed straight away?

Because they’ll already have been referred to the multi disciplinary team who can assess and diagnose (ie the psychologists at the gender identity service). So it won’t be a case of that service suspects autism and then refers on, it will be a case of being screened in house and assessed if needed. I can’t see that it would impact waiting lists for those on the singular pathway for ASD/ADHD assessment because they’re different services.

Exactly.

There's no such thing as trans. At it's purest, it's gender dysphoria. Which is a symptom.

This will find out what it's a symptom of.

And hopefully, it will completely explode the myth of the trans child.

No, most children who think they are trans who aren’t autistic aren’t ’really trans’ either.

Getting to the bottom of why these children think there is something wrong with their body can only be a good thing, rather than ploughing ahead, agreeing that their body is wrong and taking actions that they may regret later.

It looks important to respond to the upcoming public consultation.

That was a good overview but I hope for more specifics in the consultation.

They really need to engage in sessions of family therapy too.......I suspect a large proprtion of very young children who come out with the idea they are the opposite sex, will be down to parental expectation and desire.

There was an excellent, very revealing documentary onCchannel 4 ( I think!). A few years ago about a young boy in France ( 'La Petite Fille') who was 'identifying as a girl' and was being encouraged in this by his mother ( father not so keen). The mother was very open, and yet startlingly unaware at the same time, about how she had longed for a girl before he was born, and how deeply disappointed she was when the baby was a boy.

'Being a girl' involved dressing up in princess/fairy outfits and having long hair

Yes, this is good news. And presumably will take the place of the erstwhile gender clinic interview where a child says i'm trans and gets given a prescription, with no, or very few, questions asked.

Stephanie Davis Arai of Transgender Trend said she has yet to encounter a child who thinks they are trans, who isn't either autistic, gay, or has had past sexual trauma.

We know there is no such thing as being born in the wrong body. Therefore trans is being used as a cure all solution to a myriad of other problems. Cynically by transactivists, targeting children.

What the screening will do is work backwards to find out exactly why a child thinks they might be trans. In which case they can address the actual problems, not pander to a child sterilising, dangerous ideology with no basis whatsoever in reality.

'Trans' is not a condition, but a contemporary framing device for people/children unable to deal with social or familal expectations around their sex.

I recall a local newspaper article about a boy- early teens - the son of a really tough, working class father who was a 'Mixed Martial Arts' fighter. Most likley gay, it was obvious he couldn't cope with the expectations of boys in his neighbourhood ( a big, working class housing estate on the edge of the city)....and identifying as a girl was his solution.

For those who've not been involved in the problematic issues surrounding gender identity treatment for children, this 2021 interview might be useful:
www.theguardian.com/society/2021/may/02/tavistock-trust-whistleblower-david-bell-transgender-children-gids

The vast majority of people who are trans are also autistic. They don't fit in and the reason must be that they are in the wrong body. If they identify as the opposite sex then all that will go away. It never does.

My son has autism and when he was about 9 he was upset as he thought he was transgender. After a conversation with him he said he had learnt at school about transgender and wearing nail varnish. He had seen on YouTube that some designs looked cool therefore he must be transgender. I explained to him that you can like nail art and not be transgender. He was then happier as he then knew he didn’t have to be transgender to wear nail art. He is a teenager now and no signs of being transgender at all. For me this highlighted how a persons mind with autism can just try to connect the dots when told something as fact. So I totally agree with them exploring this first.