Responding to Diversity: Global Perspective on Transgender Healthcare

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of the healthcare challenges faced by transgender individuals, drawing on a personal perspective from a South Asian background and contrasting it with experiences in Australia. It identifies barriers to healthcare access, including stigma, discrimination, and lack of understanding, and discusses the impact of these factors on mental and physical health. The essay explores the author's evolving attitudes, values, and beliefs, highlighting the importance of sensitivity, cultural awareness, and heteronormative approaches in healthcare settings. It examines culturally safe healthcare practices and proposes steps to improve healthcare, such as training healthcare professionals, implementing inclusive policies, and addressing legal and social issues. The essay references several studies and resources to support its arguments and concludes with a call for greater inclusion and understanding to ensure equitable healthcare for transgender individuals.

Responding to Diversity: Global
Perspective
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Table of Contents
Introduction..............................................................................................................................................3
Barriers to Healthcare access...................................................................................................................3
My attitude, values and beliefs................................................................................................................4
Some culturally safe health care practices...............................................................................................5
Some steps to improve healthcare...........................................................................................................6
Conclusion...............................................................................................................................................6
References:...............................................................................................................................................7
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Introduction
I have chosen Transgender as my diverse group. Transgender means people are born with
complexity about their gender identity. Sometimes they behave adversely from what gender
they are assignedby birth.I am from a South Asian country. I never had very clear idea about
inclusion or exclusion of transgender people in my society. I have seen that they are denied
basic healthcare services. People are stereotyped about them, have a stigma and for this
reason transgender people are not well accepted in any society (Lgbt, 2013). Financial
instability is a big reason also as education and job is not easily accessible for them. If people
are reluctant then State has to demonstrate this cultural inclusion with legal aids. State has to
ensure every right to them. It’s a duty of a civil society also.
Barriers to Healthcare access
I have seen these people are denied, discriminated as our mind set up is not ready to accept
their real identity. People are suffering from serious complications like HIV, depression,
somatisation and they need more care like hormone therapy sometimes (Safer et al., 2016).
But my previous views about transgender are not at all realistic as I have seen that there is
good healthcare for transgender people here. The biggest problem to ensure good healthcare
is stigma and social discrimination in daily life. So they feel afraid of availing healthcare
services. To eradicate this fear, Healthcare professionals need to be trained in a way that they
can handle transgender without biased view. There must be all records and insurance updated
every time. Approach with positive outlook and affirmative approach can minimize their
problem (Roberts & Fantz, 2014).
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My attitude, values and beliefs
I think if a healthcare service provider has heteronormative approach, then it’s difficult to
understand the problem associated with transgender. Heteronormative people don’t have any
idea about gender confusion or gender related problems. They have a primitive mind set up
with very few knowledge and acceptability. (Gridley et al., 2016). Generally transgender
people used to feel bullying by that heteronormative person as he was asking several
questions which made awkward to them among others. I am feeling bad for them now and
also I realize that heteronormative approach is discriminative. I feel assaulted being
discriminated by transgender people and would love to offer proper guidance. Most important
thing as per my belief is sensitivity which is needed towards transgender people when they
come for healthcare services. Understanding their problem in this regard can ease their
dilemma. There are different people and we should have the mindset to accept everyone
irrespective of any discrimination. Otherwise these transgender people would feel hesitating
to avail healthcare services and prefer to be isolated. This is harmful for any society.During
last decades, there is a huge change in all LGBTIQ people and qualitative data shows
improvement according to ABS and AIHW (Knight & Shoveller, 2013).
I had always a different thinking about transgender people as I have very little exposure in
my country. In my country they are forced to lead an isolated life with basic rights.
Healthcare services and education are almost denied in everywhere (Jalali & Saues, 2015). So
they like to confine themselves and are not so visible in society like common gender people.
In school, college, offices they are not seen in my childhood. So a stigma in my sense has
been developed. I couldn’t even think of normal behaving in my day to day life with a
transgender. But when I came to Australia, the scene is quite opposite. Here transgender is
treated as normal gender people with very few discriminative cases. They are living normal
life with basic facilities like study and work as normal gender people. I had little access to
them which does not make me insensitive at all. I had belief of not working like others but
here I experienced that Australian Government has ensured their right in every field.
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I can accept my transgender colleagues as I don’t have any prejudice, but it is for sure that I
usually took little time to adjust with this situation. My positive attitude makes situation
much better and creates a sensible and trustworthy atmosphere between us. I read lots of
stuffs about their healthcare problems and learn about their medical emergency with physical
complications. I think inclusion of transgender in our society is the best approach whereas
exclusion is not the solution.
I read some novels on gender parity to understand on popular beliefs and local thoughts to
reconstruct my past assumptions. I read The Diplomat of Eden Sophia French and find it very
useful. It is a 2016 Goldie Winner book.
Some culturally safe health carepractices
People usually come from different background with different upbringing. So I feel all
healthcare providers cannot give same care to their patients. They need to be aware about all
problems related to transgender and their mental state with all physical problems. I think with
all my inputs that mental disorders are more common. Anxiety as well as depression is very
common which are generated due to exclusion and stigma in any society (Snelgrove et al.,
2012).
I feel these transgender people are very distressed in any society due to cultural beliefs. Due
to undefined sexual orientation, they behave in different manner which is visually distinct
what we apparently watch or think about them. I would like to appreciate them as their friend
just like a normal guy does for a friend. I would never make them feel embarrassed for their
behaviour and appearance. Culturally they are just part of any society of their ethnic group. I
always prefer to learn their cultural habits like all other inhabitants.
I have met a person being born as male but never felt like a man. This made that individual
depressed, traumatized with ultimate efforts to commit suicide. She was down with fear and
discriminations being a male but used to behave like female. The typical sense of clothing of
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that individual has also made people frowning over years. This mental trauma has made her
psychologically unstable and landed her to mental asylum. She couldn’t find a compatible sex
partner followed by more complications. Now she has been suffering from HIV also. I face
one more ridiculous thing that normal gender people always make fun and mockery about
this group of people. Most of transgender people then have a tendency to drop out or have a
gap between studies. This marginalization changes their career in difficulties and leads to
financial challenges.
Some steps to improve healthcare
Athena SWAN Bronze Institutional Award application is a code of conduct which asks all
institution to reframe all policies, programs and practices relating to gender disparity groups.
It supports all transgender stuffs and students to build discrimination free society (Napier,
2014). It aims the problem to be incorporated and addressed in depth. Australian Human
Rights Commission ensures all rights to transgender just like normal gender people in every
sector including sexual reassignment surgery to remove complications. Australian legal
services are providing divorce to avoid same sex marriage with ease. To apply Athena
SWAN Bronze Institutional Award application, there is no need to require quantitative data
on transgender stuffs in workplace. Section 6 is stating special clause to support transgender
people. If data is required to improve their life, then any institution can collect data with
consideration of anonymity; secure storage, confidentially that not to breach their privacy in
any extent. I think they must have right not to disclose their gender history in this collection
process to stop being assaulted.
Conclusion
I notice one better step here to stop cultural discrimination. There are various laws to protect
discrimination:Federal law protections, State and territory law protections, School anti-
bullying programs. I think Gender dysphoria treatment is best way to stop discrimination with
help of legal aids provided by State. If people are not accepting transgender people with eases
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then legal help is a must to build a society with no discrimination. Inclusion of a new group
needs time and care as cultural inclusion is a lengthy process. To make a safe society, all
types of discrimination must be stopped from everywhere without hesitation.
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References:
Gridley, J. et al., 2016. Youth and Caregiver Perspectives on Barriers to Gender-Affirming Health
Care for Transgender Youth. Ncbi, 59(3), pp.254-61.
Jalali, S. & Saues, L.M., 2015. Improving Care for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Patients
in the Emergency Department. Annals of emergency medicine: An international journal, 66(4),
pp.417-23.
Knight, R. & Shoveller, J., 2013. Heteronormativity hurts everyone: Experiences of young men and
clinicians with sexually transmitted infection/HIV testing in British Columbia, Canada. An
Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 1(1).
Lgbt, 2013. Affirmative Care for Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People. Best Practices
for Front-line Health Care Staff, 1(1), pp.1-14.
Napier, 2014. Athena SWAN Bronze university award. [Online] Available at:
www.napier.ac.uk/~/media/documents/equality-and./athena-swan-submission.pdf [Accessed 13
August 2017].
Roberts, T. & Fantz, C., 2014. Barriers to quality health care for the transgender population. Clinical
Biochemistry, 47(10), pp.983-87.
Safer, J. et al., 2016. Barriers to Health Care for Transgender Individuals. Ncbi, 23(2), pp.168-71.
Snelgrove, J. et al., 2012. “Completely out-at-sea” with “two-gender medicine”: A qualitative analysis
of physician-side barriers to providing healthcare for transgender patients. BMC Health Services
Research, 1(1).
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