Shannon's Blog

Finding resources for my topic was not a struggle. Since I plan on discussing transgender people and their relationship with healthcare, I looked up the keyword phrase "transgender healthcare" and discovered plenty of sources that initially appeared to be perfect for my essay. Considering that transgender discrimination and bias in medical fields have been trending news topics in recent years, it was not surprising that the research phase of this project was rather straightforward.  Some of the first few papers that arrived on my search page were very short or displayed in a format that was difficult for me to read and understand. The most useful journals contained statistics explaining the hardships some transgender people experience while trying to get medical treatment. One paper, "Knowledge, Beliefs, and Communication Behavior of Oncology Health-care Providers (HCPs) regarding Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Patient Health care" had its own studie

Throughout my life I have had transgender friends complain about the discrimination they faced in relation to healthcare. I remember some coming out during high school, where some in the medical field thought that they were too young to make decisions regarding their gender. Most of my friends were lucky with the support of their parents, though some expressed initial fear that they would not be welcomed and therefore not get the transition materials (typically medical) they needed due to parental permission being required.  Even if transgender people are adults, they can still have difficulty finding the needed medical treatments. Many transgender people face discrimination with finding employment and housing, which can effect their location to places with proper medical treatment. In addition, without effective insurance, the treatment can be rather costly. The most obvious concern when actually given the opportunity to get treatment is the possible transphobia, which does exist in t