The Trans Health Survey is the result of the work of Transgender Europe (TGEU) and its partner organisations Women’s Initiative Supportive Group (WISG), Trans-Fuzja, Daniela Fundación, Gayten LGBT, and the Riksförbundet för homosexuellas, bisexuellas, transpersoners och queeras rättigheter (RFSL).
Together, our goal was to provide a deeper understanding of the healthcare situation of trans people in Europe. To gain this understanding we conducted the survey in five countries; Georgia, Poland, Serbia, Spain, and Sweden.
The Surveys
“I’ve been going to doctors in (…) trying to get permission for sex change, but I have a feeling that they are not too interested to help me – they don’t provide me with adequate psychological support, actually they still misgender me, and every session comes down to them attempting to give me medication against depression and anxiety, though I’ve been telling them that the cause of those problems is basically unavailability of the treatment I’ve been waiting for.”
Trans man, age 22, Serbia
This is the first research on trans healthcare in which both trans healthcare users and healthcare providers have been questioned about the provision of general healthcare to trans people in the country they live and work in.
After a period of data gathering in 2016 we had results from 885 healthcare users, and 888 healthcare providers.
The Results
“The healthcare from psychologists in the Gender Identity Treatment Unit was not only unhelpful, it was also humiliating and degrading. There is inadequate information about treatments and surgeries, and authoritarian, paternalistic and pathological attitudes abound.”
Trans woman, age 22, Spain
Authors:
Adam Smiley, Aisa Burgwal, Carolina Orre, Edward Summanen, Isidro García Nieto, Jelena Vidić, Joz Motmans, Julia Kata, Natia Gvianishvili, Vierge Hård, and Richard Köhler.
Download “Overdiagnosed but Underserved – Trans Healthcare in Georgia, Poland, Serbia, Spain, and Sweden: Trans Health Survey” to read the results of the Trans Health Survey.