Thank you.
It would be good to see a source for the 7x estimate if you know it, but it certainly does seem plausible. Unfortunately ROGD is denied by too many people - another example of how autistic girls are being failed.
I've written about it in other threads but a female who identifies as male joined the autism unit (resourced provision within a mainstream school) this academic year and it's fair to say that there is now a lot of talk amongst the students within it of all things trans. My daughter is constantly hearing the Be Kind model from staff and other students in there, as well as in the wider school. Plus there are other autistic children at varying stages of thinking about their own gender identity - at least one was in the early stages of being gender questioning prior to this child joining but I understand there are others too.
Unfortunately this child openly talks about self-harm and suicide ideation in relation to it all - if I hadn't transitioned I wouldn't be here etc etc.
Interestingly both my daughters (my other daughter is in the mainstream school, in the same year as this child) say that the staff seem to be afraid to question anything that this child does because they'll get called "transphobic". Whether that's a fair perception or not, I don't know. But my daughters certainly both agreed with each other when they spoke about it. I was just listening to their conversation and reacting with appropriate "oh that sounds difficult" type phrases.
Apparently the child has accused students of saying transphobic things but I'm not sure about staff members. I have no idea if actual transphobia was happening as the term itself is very wide and fluid in its description - it's the fact that my daughters talked about a climate of fear - of saying that wrong thing - amongst the staff that's telling.
As an example of how things are left untackled, the child currently has multiple face piercings, despite that being against school rules (and blatantly not "reasonable" as an adjustment). I have no doubt that this child is vulnerable and in need of support but I don't think the staff understand the coercion that they're experiencing from this child, even if it's not intended as such - and that they are amplifying this coercion to the rest of the (also) vulnerable students: "do what xxxx wants or xxxx will be sad and we need to Be Kind because xxxxx is very vulnerable" etc etc.
When I asked a senior member of staff in the unit her thoughts about the impact of this child using male pronouns on the others, she (staff member) said "Oh, xxxxx is really relaxed about it. It doesn't matter if you get it wrong". My jaw hit the floor on hearing that. Surely the implicit coercion is obvious here?! Wrong - who gets to decide that this child's belief in gender identity is "right" and that reality is "wrong"?
Anyone branding Transgender Trend as a 'hate group' has either never read anything on their site, or is capable of finding bigotry in the room even if they have to put it there themselves.
Agreed. I used to feel uncomfortable at their strapline "no child is born in the wrong body" but I realise now that it makes sense to have such a punchy message as an umbrella above all of their thoughtfully and compassionately constructed content.
Edited for grammar and clarity.