Author: Grayson Schultz

Silc Touch Ergonomic Handle

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The following is a press release for the Silc Touch ergonomic handle:

The Silc Touch ergonomic handle is a revolution for all. Designed with accessibility in mind, the Silc Touch is the first full size toy handle on the market. It is truly a game-changer; offering better grip, better control, better angles – better pleasure. It’s simply a better way to hold a toy. Whether you’re looking for easier reach, less hand strain, more realistic thrusting, more pressure, or even a better view, the Silc Touch’s innovative design and classic craftsmanship will open new doors for you.

Continue reading “Silc Touch Ergonomic Handle” →

Access to Healthcare Issues for LGBTQIA+ People with Disabilities

Access to Healthcare Issues for LGBTQIA+ People with Disabilities

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The following is research from The Pride Study published July 21, 2023.

What Did We Do?

There is limited knowledge about the barriers that LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities experience while accessing healthcare. Among participants in The PRIDE Study who reported that they live with a disability, we looked at responses from The PRIDE Study’s 2019 Annual Questionnaire regarding access to healthcare (such as having a primary care provider, having health insurance, etc.), delaying healthcare, and insurance coverage.

What Was New, Innovative, or Notable?

This is one of the first studies about the barriers to healthcare experienced by the LGBTQIA+ disability community.

What Did We Learn? 

In our study, we found that about 31% of LGBTQIA+ people lived with a disability. This was higher than national estimates of about 25%. LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities were more likely to have a primary care provider compared to their non-disabled peers. However, LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities experienced more barriers to healthcare. Specifically, LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities were more likely to delay seeking care, to not have health insurance, and to be unable to obtain care. When we looked at these barriers by different disability groups (physical, mental, intellectual, etc.), they were relatively similar. This tells us that many LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities may experience some sort of healthcare barrier.

We found that LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities delayed seeking care because of mistreatment or disrespect they experienced from providers. They were also denied care or given lower quality medical or mental healthcare compared to those without disabilities.

What Does This Mean for Our Communities? 

The findings of this study suggest that barriers to healthcare are happening more often for LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities compared to their non-disabled peers. This means that increasing culturally sensitive training for healthcare providers is necessary to improve the quality of care for LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities. The results showed that addressing appointment availability, the cost of care, insurance coverage, and transportation issues are important items for those who make healthcare policy to focus on. This may improve care for LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities.

What’s Next?

The results of this study can help identify improve public health and healthcare systems by improving access and the quality of care for people in the LGBTQIA+ community. Future work should explore the different experiences of separate groups of people in the LGBTQIA+ disability community. It would also be important to analyze the relationship between health insurance and experiencing barriers to care.

Action Steps

See http://www.pridestudy.org/study for more information and to share this study with your friends and family.

If you are interested in conducting research related to LGBTQIA+ health, please learn more about collaborating with The PRIDE Study at http://pridestudy.org/collaborate.

Citation

Lamba S, Obedin-Maliver J, Mayo J, Flentje A, Lubensky ME, Dastur Z, Lunn MR. Self-Reported Barriers to Care among Sexual and Gender Minority People with Disabilities: Findings from The PRIDE Study. AJPH. 2023 July, 20: e1-e10. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/epdf/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307333

 

PS: Want to contribute to research specifically for the disability community around sex? I’m collecting data! This survey is open through the end of July 2023.

The Trans Community & Negative Experiences in Healthcare

The Trans Community & Negative Experiences in Healthcare

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The following is research from The Pride Study published at the end of May 2023:

What Did We Do?

We surveyed people who are transgender, nonbinary, or gender-expansive (TGE) and assigned female at birth to learn about their experiences with healthcare providers (such as doctors, nurses, and other people who work in healthcare settings).

Participants reported on interactions they had with a healthcare provider in the last year from a list of 16 different types of experiences (such as negative effects from a provider’s opinions about their gender identity or sexuality and a provider asking inappropriate questions about their gender identity). We looked at how different characteristics (such as age, race, or education level) might relate to reporting negative experiences. We also looked at whether receiving gender-affirming care (such as hormones or gender-affirming surgery) and being out as TGE to healthcare providers might relate to having negative experiences.

What Was New, Innovative, or Notable?

This is one of the first studies with a large number of participants to look at the relationship between receiving gender-affirming care and negative interactions with healthcare providers.

What Did We Learn?

Most of the participants (70%) reported at least one negative experience with a healthcare provider in the past year. The most common experiences were being negatively affected by a provider’s opinions about LGBTQIA+ identities and having to educate a healthcare provider about TGE identities to receive proper medical care.

We compared the experiences of TGE people who received gender-affirming care with TGE people who had not received gender-affirming care. The people who received gender-affirming care were more likely to report negative experiences with healthcare providers. They also reported a higher number of negative experiences for 15 out of the 16 experiences included on the survey. Among people who did not receive gender-affirming care, those who were out about their TGE identity to their healthcare provider were more likely to report negative experiences.

What Does This Mean for Our Communities?

Our findings support increasing and improving training about TGE identities among healthcare providers to help reduce bias. Experiences with healthcare providers may be improved by changes to the medical system, such as more inclusive data collection options in medical records and better insurance coverage for gender-affirming care.

Our findings do not mean that coming out as TGE to your healthcare provider or receiving gender-affirming care means you are in any way responsible for any negative experiences you may have.

What’s Next?

We hope to use these findings to raise awareness about the quality of healthcare for TGE people. We also want to use this research to encourage healthcare providers to improve their understanding of TGE identities and gender-affirming care. Future research can explore how these findings might change over time. Additional research can focus on participants with a diverse range of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, as the majority of the people in this study had health insurance and high levels of education and identified as white.

Action Steps

See http://www.pridestudy.org/study for more information and to share this study with your friends and family.

If you are interested in conducting research related to LGBTQIA+ health, please learn more about collaborating with The PRIDE Study at http://pridestudy.org/collaborate.

Citation

Inman EM, Obedin-Maliver J, Ragosta S, Hastings J, Berry J, Lunn MR, Flentje A, Capriotti MR, Lubensky ME, Stoeffler A, Dastur Z, Moseson H. Reports of negative interactions with healthcare providers among transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people assigned female at birth in the United States: results from an online, cross-sectional survey. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 May, 31; 20 6007. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20116007

 

PS: Want to contribute to research specifically for the disability community around sex? I’m collecting data! This survey is open through the end of July 2023.

Photo used courtesy of Gender Spectrum

Are you disabled / chronically ill and pregnant?

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The follow is a call for research participants to test a tool. I’m not involved, but it popped up on my radar, but I’m sharing here.

Brandeis University, the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and others have worked together to develop a new tool – an Accessible Pregnancy Action Plan. This tool would help pregnant people with disabilities think about what they need during pregnancy, during birth, and after having their baby.

They are looking for people between 12 and 36 weeks along in their pregnancies who have disabilities / chronic illnesses and also use English or American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate.

Participants will work on their Action Plan with a peer facilitator, who is also a parent with a disability. These meetings will take place over Zoom. There will be between 2 and 4 meetings.

Most participants will complete the intervention in two sessions. They will be paid $50 per session. Participants who complete the program will also be compensated an additional $50.

Learn more about the study and take the screener here.

screener poster (has all the same information as in the Brandeis link)

Survey: Talking to HCPs and Access 2023

Survey: Talking to HCPs and Access

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

Back in 2016, I collected some initial information about how people felt they could talk to healthcare providers (HCPs) about sexual health and function, sexual orientation, and gender. Then, in the fall of 2019, I conducted a more extensive survey. I’m still working on the results of that survey.

With the changes occurring in the last few years, though, I wanted to collect information again. Allow me to introduce you to the new 2023 survey.

This survey asks the same questions as before, such as “Have any of your physicians or other healthcare providers talked to you about sex or sexual issues?” It also has a section about how recent anti-equity efforts, such as rampant transphobia, have affected these conversations.

This survey is open as of May 28, 2023, and will close at the end of the day on July 31, 2023. It is only open to US residents aged 18 and up.

Take the survey here.

"communicating with your partner 101" - two photos, one with two people holding hands and another with two people hugging

Communicating With Your Partner 101

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

Communication is the foundation of any healthy and lasting relationship. That shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, no partner can read minds or guess what you need at all times. Most of the questions I get really boil down to partners not communicating due to fear, worry, stigma, and more.

The truth is that communication isn’t just stating facts and opinions. It’s the way we express emotions, empathy and support. One of the most important aspects of communication with your partner is telling them how you feel about them and expressing your appreciation, love and commitment. These words of affirmation and validation can make a huge difference in your relationship and strengthen the bond between you and your partner.

Let’s dig into some of the important things that you and your partner need to do so that you both feel loved, appreciated, and supported.

Continue reading “Communicating With Your Partner 101” →

"The 2023 Gender Census is Open" next to illustrations of happy and thriving transgender and nonbinary people

Gender Census 2023 Now Open!

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The 10th annual international gender census, collecting information about the language we use to refer to ourselves and each other, is now open until 9th May 2023. This is a short and easy survey.

What is the Gender Census?

The Gender Census is an annual survey that collects information about the language used by people whose genders are not adequately described, expressed or encompassed by the restrictive gender binary. It has taken place every year since 2015.

The language we ask about includes identity words, honorific titles, and pronouns.

Who can take this survey?

The gender binary is a societal model that classifies all humans into one of two categories:

  • Woman/girl – always, solely and completely
  • Man/boy – always, solely and completely

If you feel like that doesn’t fit your experience of yourself and your own gender in some way, you are invited to participate. This includes, but is definitely not limited to:

  • people whose genders change over time.
  • people whose genders fluctuate in intensity.
  • people who experience more than one gender at a time.
  • people who don’t experience gender at all.
  • people whose gender is neither male/man nor female/woman.

We also welcome anyone who:

  • rejects gender altogether.
  • feels like they’re outside of gender.
  • feels like they transcend or move beyond gender or the gender binary.
  • doesn’t really understand gender as it applies to them.
  • is questioning whether their flavour of trans might be binary or nonbinary.

It’s completely up to you whether you feel you fit any of these. This survey leans on the side of inclusive.

You can find data from previous years’ here. This is research from within our community and responses are anonymous.

How do I participate?

Click here to take the survey. It will close on or around May 9th.

Note: language in this post is taken from the Gender Census site.

"no body criminalized" against flowers with the logos of both the transgender law center and the repro legal defense fund

Announcing the Trans Health Legal Fund

Posted on by Grayson Schultz

The following press release was issued on Monday, March 7, 2023:

In the face of widespread attacks on transgender people’s bodily autonomy, Transgender Law Center and If/When/How’s Repro Legal Defense Fund are coming together to launch the Trans Health Legal Fund.

This fund provides economic resources and support for people facing investigation, arrest, or prosecution for seeking gender-affirming healthcare. This fund is a vital tool to protect our communities from pervasive attacks on their access to healthcare from extremist policymakers, police, and prosecutors.

“Trans and nonbinary people deserve the right to access the medical care and resources that align with their needs,” said Shelby Chestnut, Executive Director of Transgender Law Center. “The increasing threats of legislators attempting to ban and criminalize gender affirming care and abortion have highlighted even more the need for a collective response. We’re proud to partner with If/When/How’s Repro Legal Defense Fund to create a pathway to liberation and bodily autonomy for all people.”

“Our fights for reproductive justice and trans liberation are deeply intertwined. As our movements face continuous waves of attacks on our bodily autonomy, it’s essential that we show up together to support the needs of our communities,” said Rafa Kidvai, Director of If/When/How’s Repro Legal Defense Fund. “Criminalization creates a harmful, life-long domino effect on someone’s life, whether they face jail, arrest, or surveillance. Together with the Transgender Law Center, we will work to minimize the harms of the criminal legal system and fight to ensure our communities can live safely and authentically.”

The Trans Health Legal Fund will curtail the deep and lasting harm of facing criminalization by providing financial support that’s for the whole human – from bail to commissary to therapy. Transgender people who are facing criminalization for seeking healthcare can apply to the fund at www.transgenderlawcenter.org.

Transgender Law Center (TLC) is the largest national trans-led organization advocating for a world in which all people are free to define themselves and their futures. Grounded in legal expertise and committed to racial justice, TLC employs a variety of community-driven strategies to keep transgender and gender nonconforming people alive, thriving, and fighting for liberation.

The Repro Legal Defense Fund (RLDF) is a program of If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice that works to prevent, defend against, and put a permanent stop to the criminalization of people’s bodies. The RLDF provides bail and strong defenses for anyone criminalized for something that happens during pregnancy, and the folks who directly support them.