Transgenders: The Neglected Group in Health Care
Shani E. Mathew *
Department of Community Health Nursing, Hoskote Mission Institute of Nursing, Bangalore, India.
Jenifer D. Souza
Department of Community Health Nursing, Laxmi Memorial College of Nursing, Mangalore, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Transgenders have always caught my attention. Be it at the signal where they are seen begging or in a moving bus where everyone shuns away from sitting near them. My initial fears about them turned to curiosity as to who they are. Are they normal? No one around me was able to give me any answer. I was apprehensive to talk to anyone too as I was always told they may harm me. But I made it a point to attend meetings that transgenders attended, squeezed myself into talking to them and getting acquainted with the group, and to my surprise I found out they were such a welcoming group. I gelled with them faster than I thought and today I am glad they are a part of my journey. As I explored their lives, the one thing I realized was that even healthcare members are not fully aware of transgenders, rather, they have too many misconceptions. And so, the need of the hour is that healthcare professionals should be trained on transgenders especially when statistics show that as per the 2011 census, there are around 4.8 million transgenders in India. The number is way more than this.
Keywords: Transgenders, curiosity, community, healthcare