What's the Biggest Challenge to Gender Transition?
Dr. Z talks about the biggest challenge people face when it comes to gender transition—whatever that may be for you (surgical/medical procedures or just a few steps).
At first Dr. Z answered this question by saying the most difficult challenge is finances—it comes down to money. When people have access to financial resources, they have better opportunity to undergo surgery, better access to mental health services—better accessibility to a lot of things. But as she started talking about this, she realized that's not necessarily true. She equally sees people who don't have access to financial resources transition, move on, live their lives, and have what we'd call successful transition (able to achieve the congruence they were looking for, feel great and confident about themselves).
The biggest challenge isn't money or lack of money (although that is absolutely a challenge)—it's lack of adaptability, lack of being resourceful. Not access to resources, but your own capacity to be resourceful within yourself. Dr. Z sees people who are so resourceful in finding mental health services for very low cost or where insurance will cover, finding free community support services. Money can serve as accelerator—makes things quicker—but if you don't have money, transition doesn't have to stop. Things just take a little longer, which is actually good because there's more time to integrate internally.
Watch to find out why adaptability and inner resourcefulness matter more than money (people knock on one door, it's closed, they knock on another door and something opens up), why all of us have internal resilience (we're just not in touch with it), why Dr. Z has seen people without financial resources do way better and progress quicker than people with financial resources, and how to tap into your resourcefulness (search, look, probe, ask around—best doctors, which insurance covers which surgery, free services even in different states).
