silly numbers, UK Transgendered .

• Posted by Donna V October 2, 2015 1,045 views
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  Hi, Prompted by Recent Uk Television programmes and My own recent experience of getting a passport,It seems that in UK there is  growing mismatch between estimates of number of Transgendered people and Health services.Inevitably this looks to getting political.So Iam sharing my thoughts, I hope you can follow some of the Maths .

  In the Uk there are 65 million people, A simplified model is to take the population as being born after 1950 to the present 2015 ,so 65 years, and that 1 million people appear as decison making adults each year and that 1 million die when they reach 65.

  so if 1 in 10,000 are Transgendered, then at present we will have roughly  6.5 thousand Transgendered people , with 100 from each year contributing to our current population, [officially].

  How many people are Transgendered in the UK?- Semi Official answer is from GIRES studies and also note BBC programme "Countdown to Life ,The extraordinary Making of You". see episode 3. as "1 in 10,000". which would be 6.5 thousand. The interesting thing about this is that this is a safe low estimate, which is based on the number of People who have officially made a countable declaration of being Transgendered with name change and changes to Official Documentation especially Passport, and NHS registration .-There is a concern here because this appears to only be counting those who have made a definite official declaration.

  I have seen estimates and comment that the number of transgendered people may be at least 4 times the number that currently declare themselves.

  My personal experience was that I found great difficulty in obtaining a Passport change, because the Passport office required an official medical letter declaring that I was Trans gendered and undergoing treatment. Many GPS will not make such a declaration and say that they are not specialised to do so , which means that a Transgendered person would have to wait 6 months , or 1 year to have an assesment. Now Consider if your job or circumstances required you to Travel and use a Passport. My last job was like this.My Circumstances allowed me to quit the Job ,I was very lucky. But for anyone else Big Problem.

  Why is this Important ?-It is important if Health services in Uk [Private and NHS] are only resourced on the low estimate based on official declarations,and the waiting times are about a year for you to get official recognition.My concern is that these issues will start to be handled in a very political way along the lines of

  -Government and Health service policy  says "no money, -we think you can transition but with minimum amount of our help.we only consider those who officially are Transgendered "

  -Employers,Official Organizations say "We understand you want to transition, but this change makes it difficult for us ".For me I would have been forced to quit my old Job, because I could not have got a passport in a timely way"

  Which means  less and less Transgendered people will "come out" and get the life they need. How many ?

  Lots of "Plausible Transexuals in the Closet",[Thanks for that ,Phrase Rachel ,I love it],as there are plausible reasons fro not declaring you are Transgendered.

  .Well Caitlyn Jenner only officially became Transgendered  when she was 65 years old,[yes and had the money to do so] -Silly Numbers .Serious Consequences.

  Bottom line, Forget the numbers and live your life!