Obtaining hormone therapy through the informed consent model and having access to surgery has definitely changed my life for the better. It certainly didn’t fix all of my problems instantly, but it fixed a lot of problems that my dysphoria caused. Now that I’ve been on HRT and had surgery, I can live my day to day life without pain, dissociation, and misery.

When I was younger, I was always afraid that I would never be accepted as transgender while currently having a job. I thought that people like me couldn't have jobs working with the public or could actually be "out" in the workforce, from the fear of being misunderstood and discriminated against.

My whole life has been affected by the fact that my family was very accepting of me. I'm not exactly sure why, but both of my parents always supported my gender and sexual expression even before it was popular to do so. They would intervene at school and in the neighborhood, so I never had the problems that most people had growing up. As I get older (I'm over 50), I realize how important this was.