This is the way society names differences
Hi, my name is Rebecca Ghyslaine Richard aka Gabriel Jeremy Richard. Huh… Let’s start again…
Hi! My boy name is Gabriel and my girl name is Rebecca. You may wonder why I have two names. You may think that I invent another more attractive life for myself. No… To be short, it is about being transgender. Having the label “transgender”.
In my life, I got many labels. Maybe like everyone while at school or during family meeting. Who was the “intellectual”, the “smartest”, “the distractor”, the “bully”, etc. ? No, I don’t mean these labels. I mean the ones given by doctors, psychatrists and psychologists applied after cognitive testing. I have been mentally deficient (low IQ), cyclothymic, asperger and gifted. Now, it seems that the way I feel about my gender, the internal conflicts between my gender assigned at birth and what I am inside also have a label. It is called “transgender”… Why can’t I just be a boy?
In my early twenties, I was diagnosed with asperger syndrome associated with a high IQ and a dyspraxy. These were my last diagnoses. These were my most recent labels, and yet the oldest ones as doctors say that I am supposed to be born like that. And so, what is the problem?
I am not defined by autism, IQ or my level of praxis. I am defined neither by the gender I was assigned at birth nor the gender I feel inside. I am defined by the way I am. That is the way I am. I am an individual. I am unique. So are you.
The question to know if I was born with all of these, I don’t care. The question to know if there is a cure for all of these, I don’t care either. I was born with specific challenges to overcome. So were you.
Why was I diagnosed and not you? It is maybe because it was too difficult to hide the real “Me” inside. Me was too noisy, too demanding. Me was too overwhelming, sometimes. Me wanted to live a full happy life. And that’s all.
This is the way society names differences. Be aware of that. Before taking a label for granted, be You first.
