I really appreciate when people call me on my shit.  So thanks to piny over at feministe for this post, which responds to my recent Blog Against Disablism Day post.

Institutionalization for gendervariance is extremely rare, especially these days. I would venture that it is a lot less common than institutionalization for a disabled person. It does happen, but it’s not the norm. So why describe a scene straight out of Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte? Why describe something so exceptional, when the damage is by no means limited to that extreme?

What does happen all the time? Well, our families disown us, or make us ashamed of who we are–abuse and estrangement are much more common than involuntary committment. We are harassed verbally and physically at school, at work, and on the street. We get beaten up. We get raped. We get ignored. We lose custody of our children. We worry about whether or not we will be able to have children. We fear for our lives and safety. We are denied treatment by doctors, therapists, insurance providers, and the prison system. We are punished for developing the only coping strategies available to us. Bureaucracies of all stripes divert us into the wrong place at the wrong time. We have to lie to our doctors in order to receive responsible care, or go without care altogether. We get fired and denied employment. We face housing discrimination. We cannot use shelters or treatment programs. We cannot use public bathrooms. We cannot obtain accurate identification. We hear joke after joke after joke after joke. We exist on teevee only to murder or get murdered. We kill ourselves. We get killed. Our parents blame themselves for us.