"Doctor" claims Trans people are just autistic

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Yesterday, my local paper had an article about a "doctor" who thinks trans people are just autistic with a "fixation" on opposite gender stuff.

I'm 100 % sure the anti-trans people - especially the "Christians" will latch on to this guy so that's gonna be fun ...

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would this happen to be

Teresa L.'s picture

a Certain "Dr" Zucker of canada? or another? i have heard that claim recently in one it was referenced to Zucker. and yes the right already DOES use that kind of crap, now they just have another bullet to use.

Teresa L.

The truly sad part? There

The truly sad part? There probably is a spectrum of autism that could lead to that sort of behaviour. Because of numbnuts like this, _those_ people will be as ill served as those who _don't_ fit that diagnosis, no matter how it plays out.


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

Most doctors can't diagnose autism, either

My experience is that most medical professionals can't correctly diagnose autism, either. My older son was diagnosed as Asperger Syndrom at age 4 (I picked up on it and started taking him to professionals), but most therapists didn't see it at all, even after I told them.

It's even worse for girls -- ASD girls don't fit the usual diagnostic criteria (due to the usual sexism in the medical profession.) The daugher of friends of mine was misdiagnosed and mistreated for years. It's funny, because I noticed how much she was like my son back when she was 10, but it wasn't until she was 17 (and had suffered medical abuse all that time) that someone finally diagnosed her correctly. BTW, she's a mom now and an amazingly attentive and empathic mom, too. But she has the classic autistic voice (my son doesn't) and the tendency to fixate on topics when conversing.

Anyway, tl;dr: this sounds like a typical Dunning-Kruger doctor who doesn't know much about either transgenderism or autism. Which means he can pronounce his Authoritative Conclusions without being disturbed by actual knowledge or experience.

I doubt....

I doubt that there is a causal combination, But with a combination of TS 1/10 000 and the frekvence of 1/2500 for Autisms-spectrum the combined probability is much lower than the observed reported number of cases. So far we have not seen any common variation in the genome. There are many recorded variation that are common in persons with the AS (autism spectrum) and at least a documented variant among male to female transsexual persons.
So we have several possibilities. One is that there will be a manifestation of TS and AS if both variations are present another is that there is a common error very early in the early first moments of our life process that can lead to the both variations, So far I have not seen any such reports. What we really need is to see more genetic reports from TS persons, at least male to female. As there are so many more AS-persons they have been more checked.many of the genetic variations are more known. What I would like to see is that we get more direct research of MtF TS-persons to see IF they also have any of the genetic variants that are common in AS-persons. I have tried to discuss this at some WPATH congresses, but so far not got any information about this. Does anyone here have any more info? Please info to [email protected]. Ginnie

GinnieG

Focus

BarbieLee's picture

Google "doctor claims transgender is autistic" without the quotes. Almost 40 million hits come up.
Interesting a Dr. claims her 19yr old daughter isn't mentally fit to decide if she is trans. The problem is "assuming" all trans are autistic or all Christians are against trans. Assumptions are great when fishing. "I assume this is a good place to fish." Because we are only guessing what is under the water.

When we state an assumption as a fact. "That man killed that little girl." we shout. We didn't see it but only suspect. Others take our word and execute the man while the real killer mingles in the crowd and eggs them on.
I like math. Numbers don't assume anything. The joke of the company hiring the accountant is applicable.
Co. "What is two plus two?"
Accountant. "What do you want it to be?"
Co. "You're hired!"
always,
Barb

Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl

Amateurs!

Don't you just hate them? Obviously, whoever this 'doctor' is:
a. He's not a doctor of medicine
Or
B. He's never studied the condition.

Red MacDonald

Regarding Zucker ...

Q: What do you call the person who graduated at the bottom of his class at medical school?

A: Doctor.

On a more serious note ...

The World Health Organization estimates one in every four people "will be afflicted with mental or neurological disorders" and that nearly two-thirds will not seek help. It's entirely possible for a doctor to be a racist, or a Methodist, or ... well, it's entirely possible that Kenneth Zucker is the one in the four.

The fact that the word "doctor" appears in front of someone's name does not automatically validate anything they say. They could say and believe absolutely crazy things that are contrary to science or actual fact. Are we going to listen raptly to their words of wisdom because they have an MD after their name?

Dr. Harold Shipman was proven responsible for murdering 218 people; for that matter, Josef Mengele was a doctor, too ...

Being a doctor does not grant you Absolute Truth. It does not absolve you from having your views challenged. What is disheartening (insert stronger words here) is that Zucker has been widely and thoroughly discredited, and removed from his position; yet the media does not affix any of those facts to his name, as in, "After being fired from his clinic, the widely discredited Dr. Kenneth Zucker has the opinion that ...".

Although, they never hesitate to affix the word "transgender" as in "the transgender actress Laverne Cox"!

Even better. A number of the

Even better. A number of the 'doctors' out there are Ph.D, not MD. And some of those are even -honorary-, rather than earned directly.


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

I can see a number of

I can see a number of explanations.

1. Maybe autistic people are more likely to be trans. Since that works for trans in both directions, that slays "extreme male brain" theories about autism.

2. Maybe autistic people are wired for different genders than neurotypical people are, but that doesn't explain why transition is right for some of us, and would be wrong for others.

3. Maybe autistic people are just worse at hiding things, and allistic people are really just as likely to be trans.