Discussion: Being Disabled And Transgender
Readers, I’ve heard of many people who are disabled and homosexual. However, yesterday, I read an article in the latest issue of Disability Now that really made me think about something I have never thought about before.
It is an article about disabled children in foster care and those who have been adopted, but that isn’t the reason it got me thinking. It got me thinking because one of the disabled people it features is also transgender.
Now, call this ignorance if you like but I have never thought about the possibility of disabled people being transgender before I read this article. I think this is definitely a topic that needs much more coverage and discussion and maybe even study.
So, what I’d like to know is: Are you disabled and transgender? Do you know anyone who is disabled and transgender?
I’d like to get a sense of how common it is for disabled people to be transgender/transgender people to be disabled. So please leave thoughts, comments or experiences below.
Same Difference 
yes i know people who are both trans and disabled. that doesn’t mean i know how common or otherwise it is, though. someone would have to do a proper piece of research to be able to tell us that, and i doubt there would ever be the funding for it. amongst my friends and acquaintances are people who are lesbian/gay/bisexual/queer/pansexual/heterosexual, with disabilities. some of them are also intersex, or transsexual, or transgendered, or genderqueer. people with disabilities are just as diverse as able-bodied people! i am guessing you are heterosexual and cis-gendered? i am neither, hence most of my friends are LGBTQI one way or another (and sometimes two ways). some are able-bodied and some are not. that’s life, no?
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I have a rare form of muscular dystrophy called Bethlem Myopathy and I recently started seeing a transgender therapist. I consider myself as a MTF genderqueer and am considering starting a low dose of hormones if my doctors give the go-ahead. I still haven’t figured everything out; it’s very confusing since I don’t feel like a straightforward transsexual and am attracted to women (which would make me a lesbian from the female side of things). Send me a message if you would like to know more.
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I have beckers muscular dystrophy and I identify much as you do, I’ve been trying to get things started for a few years now, I got the recommendation already and since have been trying to find a doctor, it would seem my options are now narrowed down to a clinic that runs transition services which will hopefully work out. I hope it goes smoother for you, but anyway, if you receive this message, perhaps we should get in touch and talk more.
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I’m 31 with beckers md and I’m hoping to start hormone therapy. I worry I’ll make my mobility worse. I’m glad other people with md are trans. I don’t feel alone, knowing other people are going thru the same sorta stuff I am
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Dear Erik :
I, too, have Muscular Dystrophy, Char cot-Marie-Tooth, ( don’t worry about trying to pronounce this, no one has ever heard of this ). I’m also trans-gender-ed, ( which just made sense to me, considering that I already look like a woman, think like a woman,
and love to dress like a woman. I have always known that I was different from other people,
and being disabled just adds to that weirdness.
Perhaps we can talk further, and become friends. Here’s my e-mail address:
JAYGURL2005@GMAIL.COM.
Jaymegurl
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hi everyone, I am disabled and I am transgender woman. I was born with cerabel Palsy
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Hi Nichole;
I’m Jayme, I, too, am a trans-gender-ed woman, and I was born with Muscular Dystrophy. If it’s alright with you, maybe we can write to each other.
Jaymegurl
P.S. here’s my e-mail address: JAYGURL2005@GMAIL.COM
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I am transgender and have a disabilty I like to talk to more people who are transgender and disabled
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