How difficult is it to find trans specific healthcare? One of the receptionist's area in the doctor's office my mom goes to is plastered with LGBT posters, etc. and it seemed to me like many of their clients might have been trans. Then recently I noticed the doc helped open a Trans Care Clinic that has 21 people working there. So even in that fairly small town it would seem to be pretty well covered. Which surprised me.
As always, it depends where you are. In Canada, it depends on how far away you are from a major centre. If you're near Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, it's gonna be pretty easy. Even places like Winnipeg are okay. However getting into places like northern Ontario even (not even 4 hours away from Toronto) there can be serious problems with access. The biggest problem is starting trans healthcare. Most doctors don't have a problem continuing your care if you're already on hormones, and will help fill out paperwork for CAMH for surgery stuff if that's the route you want to go, but are sketchy about changing meds and don't want to start new people on meds because they don't have any experience. Of course, how does one gain experience, right? The other problem in Canada in particular is that (if you decide to do it), the wait list for surgery is around 2+ years as of last month. so that's... a pain.
How about in your experience? You tell your doctor you are trans, they understand they have no idea what they are doing.... then easily refer you to a trans specific doctor that is available in a reasonable amount of time? On a Frivolous Friday note: what do you think about Caitlyn Jenner? On one hand, she is a very high-visibility person who has been widely respected for decades as a world class athlete. On the other, after their association with the Kardashian attention whores I can not shake the suspicion that it is all just a publicity stunt.
nah, Jenner's had way too much work done for just a publicity stunt. Plus, at the end of the day all you can do is believe someone. HOWEVER she's a really bad example of what being a trans person is like. Most trans people can't just take a year and just have all your surgeries, hair removal, etc done and taken care of. Jenner is rich,and she is an example of what a rich trans woman has access to. Most trans women aren't rich - I'm still working on affording some more laser hair removal, and it'll be years before i can get surgery through government access. In answer to your first question, it again depends. In my personal experience, when I was investigating getting treatment in Northern Ontario, it was looking like I would have had to get an appointment in Toronto at CAMH to get started on Hormone Replacement Therapy, or HRT. This would have taken 6 months or so from my initial request. Instead, I looked into Ottawa, where i also had a place to live, and getting access to care was as easy as getting a referral to a local free health care clinic. I then had to go through a few months of counselling appointments, but that would have happened at CAMH too, so I ended up about 6 months ahead. If you live in Nunavut, say, you ALSO have to go to CAMH because there are no services there. Basically, trans health care access is spotty and all over the place, and you need to know how to navigate the system.