A gig. Also transgender suicides
Well, I think I’ve got a job. It’s not a good job, it’s just doing assembly work at a company my brother used to work for. This gig is only scheduled to be for two months and only pays $12/Hour. I can’t talk about what I’m doing there because of a non-disclosure agreement coupled with a lack of interest in the big picture on my part. If they want me to care about more than the details of what I’m doing there, they will have to pay me more. At the rate I’m making I won’t solve even the simplest problems for them, they’re not paying me to think. The scary part is that the way they work is to try someone out for a week, then decide if they want that person. They figure it’s easier that way then running interviews. I also have prospects for two other jobs that recruiter’s are pimping me to, one at $16 doing CAM work at a PC board house, and one for $20 working as a technician. I’m not going to hold my breath on either of these.
In other news, I’m putting together a suicide awareness and sensitivity training session for the Gender Identity Center of Colorado and have been doing a lot of research on the web trying to find correct information. There aren’t any reliable facts on transgender suicide to work from. I’ve run across sites claiming that fifty percent of trans people die violent deaths by either suicide or murder. This is obviously bogus. On the other side are the people claiming the suicide rate for trans-people is no different than that for the general population. My gut feel is that this is wrong. In the 11 years I’ve been involved with the GIC, with an average membership of 100 people, I’m aware of seven suicides (Okay, 1 could be an accident) and I have received about 20 crisis calls from people considering suicide. I have no idea how many people have attempted and not reported their actions to anyone. Consider that I was generally running one meeting a week for about eight years and one a month after that. The GIC has 4.25 meetings a week not counting board and other administrative meetings. If my experience is anything to go by, there’s either a serious risk, or we’ve had a bad decade for trans-people in Denver. I’m guessing that the suicide risk for transsexuals is probably around 1 to 2 percent. Verses the 2 to 6 percent for depressive mood disorders. When a trans-person also has a mood disorder, the risk may be slightly higher than for the mood disorder alone.
I’m curious, friends, if you found yourself faced with the daunting task of changing your gender, would you get depressed? Would you consider suicide?
In other news, I’m putting together a suicide awareness and sensitivity training session for the Gender Identity Center of Colorado and have been doing a lot of research on the web trying to find correct information. There aren’t any reliable facts on transgender suicide to work from. I’ve run across sites claiming that fifty percent of trans people die violent deaths by either suicide or murder. This is obviously bogus. On the other side are the people claiming the suicide rate for trans-people is no different than that for the general population. My gut feel is that this is wrong. In the 11 years I’ve been involved with the GIC, with an average membership of 100 people, I’m aware of seven suicides (Okay, 1 could be an accident) and I have received about 20 crisis calls from people considering suicide. I have no idea how many people have attempted and not reported their actions to anyone. Consider that I was generally running one meeting a week for about eight years and one a month after that. The GIC has 4.25 meetings a week not counting board and other administrative meetings. If my experience is anything to go by, there’s either a serious risk, or we’ve had a bad decade for trans-people in Denver. I’m guessing that the suicide risk for transsexuals is probably around 1 to 2 percent. Verses the 2 to 6 percent for depressive mood disorders. When a trans-person also has a mood disorder, the risk may be slightly higher than for the mood disorder alone.
I’m curious, friends, if you found yourself faced with the daunting task of changing your gender, would you get depressed? Would you consider suicide?