Visitors to the exhibition - "It Takes Time To Grow"
The process of transition is different from individual to individual and many trans people use art and creative methods to document and to represent their experiences. Watch a short film ‘A Tight Warm Hug’ and listen to a piece of music ‘Sing! Little Floret’.
For many transgender people, access to medical treatments is essential to relieve the distress of gender dysphoria – an intense discomfort with the disconnect between one’s gendered body and internal gender identity. For adults this can include hormone replacement therapy and different forms of surgery depending on the individual and how they want their body to be.
Whilst the NHS does cover some of these medical treatments, the capacity of the service has not expanded with demand and the wait to be seen can now be 3 years of more. For comparison, those who transitioned over 10 years ago were typically seen in a matter of weeks. This has meant that transgender people are increasingly having to raise thousands of pounds to access these treatments privately.