The Trans Women's Anti-Violence Project

Being transgender may not itself be a mental illness, but the underlying message of this ad campaign reinforces and perpetuates sanism, along with the very pathologisation of people it claims to be against.

The headline, “Transgender people are not mentally ill,” constructs a false either/or dichotomy between trans people and people with mental health needs. It excludes from the category of “transgender people” any one who has any serious mental health needs. The reality is that many trans people, just like many cis people, are mentally ill.

There’s also a long and ongoing history of trans people being denied access to trans-related healthcare because of an existing mental illness. So framing all trans people as being mentally healthy all the time is very problematic if your goal is to allow trans people to have more control over their lives and better access to meeting their healthcare needs.

The ad wrongly takes the general pathologization of mental illness for granted. That is, the creators of the ad seem to see the problem with pathologization of trans people as the association of being trans with mental illness, as opposed to the larger problem concerning how mental health problems are pathologized in our society. Again, this distancing of trans people from mental illness only reinforces a false separation that fails to account for and respect all people with mental health needs, especially any trans people with mental health issues.

Having a mental health diagnosis need not in and of itself be pathologizing. All health needs, including both trans and mental health needs, need to be respected. Yes, trans people need to have more control over our bodies, identities, and lives without loss of needed healthcare. But perpetuating sanism and hostility towards people with mental illnesses is not the way to go about this.

(Source: graydayson)