Caring for a Gender Diverse Population 🌈
It all starts with language.
I truly believe that we should treat all people with respect, and value them for who they determine themselves to be.
I personally do not like the phrase ‘pregnant women’. This does not include those who do not identify themselves as women. I refer to all pregnant individuals as ‘birthing people’.
I do not like the word ‘normal’. I mean, what the hell is normal anyway? I prefer the term ‘typical'.
How about ‘motherhood or fatherhood’? I am a parent and I do not 100% identify myself as a mother or a father. My own parents identify themselves as Mama and Papa, and as that is their preference, I refer to them with those words. But I don’t exactly feel like I fit into a ‘mother’ category. So, I chose ‘parenthood’.
At Happy Down There Physiotherapy, every initial intake form starts with asking for your:
Sex assigned at birth
Gender identity
Pronouns
I know I don’t have the power to change culture and language for all. Sometimes I feel helpless. Especially when I am trying to provide statistics via research studies (it’s always categorized as woman or man). But I feel that if I start consistently respecting and acknowledging differences in gender identity in small ways, maybe someone will see that it is important to do so and will consider changing their language too.
How you determine yourself is important to me because it is respect for basic human dignity. I began working in healthcare because I want to care and support everyone and anyone. And I start by using my language to show it.