Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"I'm finding lots to talk about with my GL and trans* friends, in terms of having to educate one's medical professionals, which they rightly point out as a form of oppression, or if it isn't oppression then it is a damn lot of work I'd really rather not have to do; the impacts of CP are syndromic and not necessarily correlated with affectedness, although some of the research reads that way." -- Sara Stewart, 2014-05-23 (comment on a global-access Facebook post, so all Facebook users will be able to see it by clicking that links ... but non-FB-users will only see the top-level post that this comment is attached to, not the comment itself)

Context: about 3‰^[1] of the population is estimated to be transgender^[2], and similarly about 3‰ of the population has cerebral palsy. Patients in both groups find they often have to educate their doctors about how to treat their conditions, instead of the other way around. (It helps a lot to have a doctor who is open to being educated by her or his patient, but even then, the person without medical training winds up advising the medical professional, which feels kinda backward -- and doing all the research first.)

[1] I think ‰ is a reasonably well-known, if little-seen-in-English symbol, but just in case anyone finds it unfamiliar (I'm not the best judge of what is or isn't widely known), 3‰ = "three per mil" or "three permille" = 3 per 1000 = 0.3%.

[2] Using a statisticaly-convenient definition of "transgender" that translates to "bothered enough by it to seek medical assistance with transition and therefore be easily countable". Which, since we're talking about interactions with doctors, is a more appropriate definition here than it usually is.

Argh. Head full of topics I need to get around to sitting down and properly writing out, calendar full of intent-to-write-real-blog-entries, and here I am yet again posting just an announcement. But I do want to get this out, since I didn't manage to yet:

That transgender soccer player I quoted a week ago is in a movie about the team she plays for (American Samoa), and there's a screening of that movie tomorrow evening in Tyson's Corner. I'll be there. And I wanted other DC-area folks -- soccer fans, trans people and allies, and folks who just think it sounds like a good story -- to know about it and maybe come see it too.

Next Goal Wins, tomorrow, Thursday, 29 May 2014 at 7:30 PM at Tyson's Corner & IMAX in McLean, VA. $12.50.

The blurb:

After suffering a world record 31-0 defeat at the hands of Australia in 2001, American Samoa, officially the worst football team on earth, are still in search of their first ever competitive win. When maverick Dutch coach Thomas Rongen arrives on the island to help the team achieve this elusive goal, he discovers that his ramshackle team includes an emotionally scarred goalkeeper and the first transgender player ever to play international football. They haven't scored a goal for four years. With the team about to embark on a gruelling World Cup Qualification campaign, Rongen has just one month to transform this ragtag of endemic losers into a winning team, and perhaps learn a little about himself along the way. Next Goal Wins is a hilarious and moving exploration of what it really means to be a winner in life.

And to make it so I'm really not only posting announcments, a snippet of my day: I went to the supermarket to pick up some prescriptions and "a few" groceries that turned into a full cart, and said hello to the pharmacist who was on duty and the person working the customer-service desk and a few other folks there I've talked to from time to time -- and the first two I mentioned, when they asked how I've been and I said something about getting up to Balticon and "being among my tribe", they said I looked healthier than usual, more alive, and had wondered what the news behind that was. And I did feel a bit more energetic than usual, like my body moves a little more freely than usual. ...

So it seems the good that spending time around other fen does me, is visible. Who knew? In any case, wow did I need Balticon!

In the short term, Balticon took a toll physically, mostly the forgetting-to-sleep thing and abusing my shoulder a bit by carrying stuff around for so long, but getting up there and back, and getting ready, all took some spoons too. But apparently the health benefit to me of going to Balticon exceeds the health cost of doing so. :-) (Also, I feel a little bit more me.)

I need y'all.