Should gender dysphoria/transgenderism be considered a disability?

[LittleMissViper]

It's something that I've been wondering for a while. I'm not an expert in the field, nor have I had a lot of interactions with a wide number of affected individuals. I would be genuinely interested to hear other peoples experiences and thoughts.

Obviously the severity varies, but the affected individuals I know have described the severity of their gender dysphoria and the distress it causes them. They often speak about how they cannot live without going through a transition.

The transition often, but not always, leads to the individual beginning regulated medication that would need to be taken for the rest of their life. It also sometimes involves major surgical procedures being performed.

Considering this, should being under medical care for a chronic, lifelong condition be classified as having a disability?

Would affected people be able to claim financial support for the disability?

Would affected athletes then participate in disabled sport, after assessment using the standard classification systems?

Hmm. So if a man gets breast implants and takes female hormones he's considered disabled for life? So the state of womanhood becomes a disability?

I don't think so.

Maybe if fewer people spent their lives tweeting about their distress, and doing what the rest of us have to - get fucking dressed and get to work even on our worst days - things wouldn't be in such a state.

Ha! Don't feed the grift...

@TheUsualShitshow

Hmm. So if a man gets breast implants and takes female hormones he's considered disabled for life? So the state of womanhood becomes a disability?

I don't think so.

Maybe if fewer people spent their lives tweeting about their distress, and doing what the rest of us have to - get fucking dressed and get to work even on our worst days - things wouldn't be in such a state.

I wouldn't assume womanhood to be the disability. If nothing else, gender dysphoria can affect both sexes. I would assume the disability to be the inability of the body and mind to reconcile with one another.

How does that render you unable to go to work though? If people with MS and cancer and lupus and depression and anxiety and blindness and deafness andn a hundred other disabilities and diseases can do it, and people who are 9 months into the creation of another whole human being can do it, what makes this so very disabling that the person can never be expected to work ever again?

I wouldn't assume womanhood to be the disability. If nothing else, gender dysphoria can affect both sexes.

Are you talking about diagnoses gender dysphoria or people who self identify and transition on that basis?

If you read about the social model of disability versus the medical model, you will see that gender dysphoria doesn't meet the criteria, at all, for medical model.

People with chronic conditions don't just check a box marked "disabled," disability is context dependent. A person with colitis can use a disabled toilet, but not a blue badge parking spot, for example.

We don't consider women disabled if they add massive silicon boobs to themselves, so why would we men? Women with medical hysterectomies are not disabled, so only if they had it done for non-medical reasons? It makes no sense

Umm. No.

People with physical disabilities shouldnt lose places in sports teams due to what is, if considered a disability, essentially a mental health disabilty. In the same way as Simone Biles isnt in the paralympics because she has mental heath issues, Im not comparing her issues with trans people, I just think its distastful to suggest that if an able bodies person thinks they are the wrong gender they can take a disabled persons place on a sports team

Fair enough, I can understand a lot of those arguments, and I appreciate you taking the time to explain them to me.

Just to clarify that I don't believe that having a disability means that someone is automatically unable to work. In some cases that might be true, but not in others.

Also, to clarify that I am referring to individuals who receive a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria and transitions under the care of doctors. I can fully understand that it is distasteful to suggest that someone who self-identifies as trans could be disabled.

Lastly, I don't mean to imply that any lifestyles, medication or surgeries are the disability, and apologies if that's how my thoughts have come across. Rather, I wondered whether the gender dysphoria itself could be considered a disability. Similar (but not the same) to how some forms of neurodivergence are disabilities.

I am not a doctor, but I would think lifestyle changes, medication and/or surgery is part of managing the issue.

No

I wonder if my confusion around this issue could be that gender dysphoria is not what I think it is? Is it not a genuine medical condition that can be diagnosed?

When explaining, please do assume I'm an idiot who knows nothing and have been living in a box my entire life. It often feels like it, with the minefield that is transgenderism!

Even if it is a genuine medical condition (as I understand there is a medocal condition it falls under) I still find the notion that that would allow them to compete in the paralymics, for example, wierd.

A. Because there is a difference between a medical condition and a disability. Pcos for example is a medical condition not a disability.

B. Because not all disabilities mean that you would be in the paralympics. You refer to neurodiversity as a disability, but having autism wouldnt automatically qualify you to compete in a team for people with disabilities.

To enter the paralymics with an intellectual disability you would need an IQ of under 75, impaired functioning, and for the disability to have occured before you were 18.

Even with physical disabilities you need to be deemed sufficiently disabled in order to compete.

I just fail to see where a trans person would fit into these categories.

Being psychologically unable to use the toilets of your sex might be considered a disability. I read on here a long time ago, that this might have been a pathway those with severe gender dysphoria might have gone down, in order that they could use mixed sex disabled facilities, so clearly this is not an entirely unconsidered question.

It’s not a physical disability though.

No no no no and no.
It’s not a disability. You can be distressed and perfectly able.

Gender dysphoria is a medical condition with diagnostic criteria. That doesn't make it a disability, and I'm unclear on the reason for you asking the question. Do you think it is/should be a disability? Do you think trans people argue that GD is a disability or want it to be recognised as such? (because they don't). This just seems like a weird hypothetical with no purpose

Yes, but, transgenderism is also not a mental health disorder.

According to the WHO and Theresa May, at least.

So, no, they should crack on, get to work, find a good hobby, do something useful like the rest of us.

It's not special, being trans. Everyone is special.

Paralympics is based on the impact of specific impairments and what groupings are needed for a 'fair contest. As far as I remember there is only one event not based on physical criteria.

Possibly could be a disability in terms of discrimination, especially as commonly paired with depression or anxiety disorder which definitely can be, but its hard to see many cases where it wouldnt be simpler to push on discrim re sex reassignment the way it is currently interpreted.

No, genuinely disabled people are not able to identify out of their conditions.

Being disabled is not a lifestyle choice.

Not so sure about that, @SingingSands. The SNP were inviting candidates who "identified as disabled".

Certainly, the conditions mentioned in the article can be very disabling and wreak havoc in a person's life, but, I'm not convinced that the individuals sharing their personal information are disabled by them.

I totally agree, if your marginalisation ends when you change your clothes, cut your hair or broaden your horizons, then you're not disabled.

wingsoverscotland.com/the-death-wish/

No in the same way as anorexia is not going to gain someone entry into the disabled loos, the paralympics etc. It is a mental health condition and it is already ridiculous that men have been allowed into wormen's sport, onto women's wards in hospital, into women's prisons etc etc

The definition of disability
"You’re disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities.
‘substantial’ is more than minor or trivial, eg it takes much longer than it usually would to complete a daily task like getting dressed
‘long-term’ means 12 months or more, eg a breathing condition that develops as a result of a lung infection."

So no, gender dysphoria absolutely does not meet this definition because it really doesn't affect your ability to do normal daily activities.

Being disabled isn't something that you can identify in or out of.

@Voice0fReason

The definition of disability "You’re disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities. ‘substantial’ is more than minor or trivial, eg it takes much longer than it usually would to complete a daily task like getting dressed ‘long-term’ means 12 months or more, eg a breathing condition that develops as a result of a lung infection."

So no, gender dysphoria absolutely does not meet this definition because it really doesn't affect your ability to do normal daily activities.

Being disabled isn't something that you can identify in or out of.

Hear hear!

It seems likely then that I have been lead down the garden path by the people I am aware of with gender dysphoria, who have implied it to be significantly more disabling than perhaps it truly is.

I hasten to add that none of them, to my knowledge, have described gender dysphoria as a disability. However, how it is described as affecting them made me wonder if it should be.

Having not experienced gender dysphoria myself, it is hard to judge.

No