Gwydion's Big Adventure
Feb. 12th, 2014 11:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydionOn paper, the trip was simple. Sure, I was leaving town later than I like for this sort of thing (Doctor was running close to an hour an a half late, I'd never seen this Doctor before. I needed to stop at the library, to pick up travel food and caffeine, and gas), but it should have been okay. It was harrowing. This time of year the weather is so changeable, and it's been worse since climate change got so much worse. Last Friday it snowed. It was briefly Spring again. Yesterday evening was classic November weather for here with cold rain and winds so strong that the big gusts were like hitting a patch of black ice as they would randomly knock the car sidewise out of it's lane. The more steady bits were exhausting, as one had to fight the wind to keep the car on the road but compensating was easier than the sections with the wild, chaotic gusts. Not surprisingly, there were traffic jams. This despite me hitting those patches well after rush hour. (Today it was April or May on 167, I drove through a cloud actually raining hard while also being fog after my appointment, but it was late June and/or early July in our mountains and in Bellingham itself, with hot whether, blue skies and big fluffy white clouds. How the hell do you dress for weather this changeable?)
And then there was the signage. Oh my, the signage. I-5 is pretty well marked. They give you multiple signs and lots of warning of things. Sure, Seattle and Portland can be confusing your first time through, but I've driven the stretch of it between Eugene and Bellingham often. The 405 though? I think I've been on it maybe four times? Like a decade ago maybe? The visibility wasn't great and they didn't have enough iterations and warning for the degree of difficultly the weather and heaviness of traffic were posing after 8PM on a Wednesday with no navigator to read the signs so I could concentrate on dealing with sudden frequent speed changes in the traffic around me. Still, me taking 3 and not 2, is my fault, as the exit signs were next to each other, and small right at the exit. It being a section where people kept having to panic break, my eye caught the Rainier legend and when I realized it was two small signs, not one, it was to late. This lead to a maddening hour of driving around Renton, with people giving increasing less reliable direction to 167 on ramp that lead me deeper and deeper into no where. "Turn Left at the second light and right at the first, which will be Rainier," lead me to Davenport, which was not, in fact, Rainier. You see the problem.
While the people of Renton were universally pleasant, whatever person they put in charge of signage needs to be replaced. Many street signs were hidden in shadow, so hard to read, and the person doing the on and off ramp signs, was not a fan of advance warning or clear labeling. They did not believe in placing this way to this highway pointers, and felt you didn't need tho know which lane you needed to be in to get on or avoid getting on a ramp until you were already committed to a lane and unable to change your guess when the signs came into view. It does not help that several highways of varying importance meet there. *facepalm* I didn't even try to find the clinic so I'd know where it was which was my original plan, and I am very glad for the pit stop I took before starting the quest for one 167.
The 167 signage was even worse. The assumption was you would not be using this road unless you'd already traveled it so knew what and where the exits are. Things would happen like the four lanes would split to send you to four different highways, none of which were marked with an understanding that some people using the road might not live there and need to know which road was going to lead to which major population center. Instead they assumed you know where all these small towns I'd heard of but never been to were in relation to each other relative to this curvy bit of highway. I suspect this of being the same person in charge of highway signage in Renton or a close sibling. This eccentric system made the drive back from Puyallup the next morning in Rush hour traffic in which we were lucky to speed all the way up to 20 miles an hour an extra special experience as it was really hard to change lanes when everyone is an hour late to work and going five miles an hour... Yeah.
It was a really nice visit, if only really a couple of hours long, as it was a friend I don't see often, but I could not sleep between all the adrenaline and stress and the heat and trying to figure out if the ticking was the clock or the rain and me being bad at sleeping in strange places. This and the oil light popping on right as I entered Puyallup was sort of special sauce for the Hellish morning commute. I ended up simply giving up and pulling off at an earlier Renton exit than intended as by this time I'd been on the road two hours, the cars weren't even moving between that exit and the next, and I had fifteen minutes to get to the appointment. Of course, given how the night before Rainier had started to seem mythical, since despite all those people trying to send me there, it was never where they said it was. It took a while to find an open business where I could get directions, it being 8AM in the morning. At least this time I only had to stop twice and the second set took me to the exact block and building. I was only 5 minutes late, and given 2-3 hour commutes on the 167 and 405 are apparently normal for the region I was congratulated on making it so close to the time. O.o
The Clinic itself was lovely. Apparently, when they decided to make their practice trans inclusive and they went all out on hiring appropriate staff and training the existing employees. Seriously, they were amazing. The cis staff was excellent and the person in charge of doing all the trans services planning and outreach was a transman.
It is a huge fucking difference to have one of us not only doing the "make the clinic a safe place for trans people to get crucial and often life saving health care" part, but having one of us do the gate keeping letters is a whole new world of better. I am not convinced we need gatekeepers (though many of us do need trans related psychiatric care to deal with things like transitioning stress, past abuse, or dealing with the physical violence so often inflicted on the community, I genuinely don't see why medically necessary surgery requires sometimes years of expensive, unwanted, and unneeded out of pocket psychiatric care to get a sign off, when elective cosmetic surgery does not. I think it should all be informed consent). Seriously, he had done the research to find out what questions he needed to ask to write the letter, but there wasn't all that incredibly invasive sexual history stuff or the long, long, trans story you generally have to tell over and over for months to get past the gatekeepers. He apologized for the invasiveness of the questions he did have to ask about psychiatric history, outness, and friends/family support. It was fast, respectful, and not at all traumatic as this is stuff I talk and write about all the time. This was the only time in the process where dealing with officialdom was actually pleasant.
Seriously folks, if you or a friend are looking for gatekeeper letters and convenient to the Tacoma/Renton bit of the I-5 corridor, PM me and I will give you the web address. It generally costs $85.00 if you are paying out of pocket and they do sliding scale. Even with the gas money I spent with all the getting lost on the way there and back (*waves to the extremely pleasant and helpful people of Kent and their clear and accurate directions even if the cousin of the terrible 167 signage person also apparently did their highway related signs* A+, people of Kent), this is vastly less expensive than the gatekeeper process is and so much less hassle, stress, and trauma. It might honestly be worth it for folks in Oregon and Idaho, because gas and hotel is stiull cheaper than months of therapy for a trans man or years for a trans woman. I'm going to leave of my "the discrimination against the women of our community has been and remains appaling" rant as most of you have heard it.
Why are there so few trans health and mental health providers when the need is so massive? Poverty. Our unemployment rate remains in the 26% range because of massive employment discrimination. (It hits the PoC members of our community hardest because the discrimination against multiple minorities is often geometric). Yes, it's nice that Homeland Security no longer automatically outs trans job applicants to employers as part of George W. Bush's crusade against the imaginary trans terrorists, but some of us have mismatched documentation and passing privilege is still a thing. A lot of people will pick a less qualified cis applicant over a more qualified applicant and even more not only won't hire trans applicants under any circumstances and will fire people for transitioning. This is why we need GENDA, but the Republicans are firmly against fairness, so no point in holding your breath. Even in my state with it's strong protections, there are still ways around them, and people with massive out of pocket medical expenses who just lost their jobs have trouble hiring good lawyers. Even when we can get jobs we generally have these massive out of pocket medical expensive that are incredibly hard to deal with on minimum wage. Did I mention the poverty? So add on the massive and ever increasing expense of college, Medical School, etc., and the suprise is any of us manage to become medical or psychiatric practitioners.
Anyway, I made it home safe. Given the speed of the postal system around here my letter might arrive Friday, but more likely Monday. I got Squirrel's paperwork in to the office where they are almost never open, and I even got a few extremely short naps in between Hector waking me up to get proof I was really there and still alive with the associated reassurance pettins. Little miss came out and cadged the longest pet she's wanted from me ever.
And then there was the signage. Oh my, the signage. I-5 is pretty well marked. They give you multiple signs and lots of warning of things. Sure, Seattle and Portland can be confusing your first time through, but I've driven the stretch of it between Eugene and Bellingham often. The 405 though? I think I've been on it maybe four times? Like a decade ago maybe? The visibility wasn't great and they didn't have enough iterations and warning for the degree of difficultly the weather and heaviness of traffic were posing after 8PM on a Wednesday with no navigator to read the signs so I could concentrate on dealing with sudden frequent speed changes in the traffic around me. Still, me taking 3 and not 2, is my fault, as the exit signs were next to each other, and small right at the exit. It being a section where people kept having to panic break, my eye caught the Rainier legend and when I realized it was two small signs, not one, it was to late. This lead to a maddening hour of driving around Renton, with people giving increasing less reliable direction to 167 on ramp that lead me deeper and deeper into no where. "Turn Left at the second light and right at the first, which will be Rainier," lead me to Davenport, which was not, in fact, Rainier. You see the problem.
While the people of Renton were universally pleasant, whatever person they put in charge of signage needs to be replaced. Many street signs were hidden in shadow, so hard to read, and the person doing the on and off ramp signs, was not a fan of advance warning or clear labeling. They did not believe in placing this way to this highway pointers, and felt you didn't need tho know which lane you needed to be in to get on or avoid getting on a ramp until you were already committed to a lane and unable to change your guess when the signs came into view. It does not help that several highways of varying importance meet there. *facepalm* I didn't even try to find the clinic so I'd know where it was which was my original plan, and I am very glad for the pit stop I took before starting the quest for one 167.
The 167 signage was even worse. The assumption was you would not be using this road unless you'd already traveled it so knew what and where the exits are. Things would happen like the four lanes would split to send you to four different highways, none of which were marked with an understanding that some people using the road might not live there and need to know which road was going to lead to which major population center. Instead they assumed you know where all these small towns I'd heard of but never been to were in relation to each other relative to this curvy bit of highway. I suspect this of being the same person in charge of highway signage in Renton or a close sibling. This eccentric system made the drive back from Puyallup the next morning in Rush hour traffic in which we were lucky to speed all the way up to 20 miles an hour an extra special experience as it was really hard to change lanes when everyone is an hour late to work and going five miles an hour... Yeah.
It was a really nice visit, if only really a couple of hours long, as it was a friend I don't see often, but I could not sleep between all the adrenaline and stress and the heat and trying to figure out if the ticking was the clock or the rain and me being bad at sleeping in strange places. This and the oil light popping on right as I entered Puyallup was sort of special sauce for the Hellish morning commute. I ended up simply giving up and pulling off at an earlier Renton exit than intended as by this time I'd been on the road two hours, the cars weren't even moving between that exit and the next, and I had fifteen minutes to get to the appointment. Of course, given how the night before Rainier had started to seem mythical, since despite all those people trying to send me there, it was never where they said it was. It took a while to find an open business where I could get directions, it being 8AM in the morning. At least this time I only had to stop twice and the second set took me to the exact block and building. I was only 5 minutes late, and given 2-3 hour commutes on the 167 and 405 are apparently normal for the region I was congratulated on making it so close to the time. O.o
The Clinic itself was lovely. Apparently, when they decided to make their practice trans inclusive and they went all out on hiring appropriate staff and training the existing employees. Seriously, they were amazing. The cis staff was excellent and the person in charge of doing all the trans services planning and outreach was a transman.
It is a huge fucking difference to have one of us not only doing the "make the clinic a safe place for trans people to get crucial and often life saving health care" part, but having one of us do the gate keeping letters is a whole new world of better. I am not convinced we need gatekeepers (though many of us do need trans related psychiatric care to deal with things like transitioning stress, past abuse, or dealing with the physical violence so often inflicted on the community, I genuinely don't see why medically necessary surgery requires sometimes years of expensive, unwanted, and unneeded out of pocket psychiatric care to get a sign off, when elective cosmetic surgery does not. I think it should all be informed consent). Seriously, he had done the research to find out what questions he needed to ask to write the letter, but there wasn't all that incredibly invasive sexual history stuff or the long, long, trans story you generally have to tell over and over for months to get past the gatekeepers. He apologized for the invasiveness of the questions he did have to ask about psychiatric history, outness, and friends/family support. It was fast, respectful, and not at all traumatic as this is stuff I talk and write about all the time. This was the only time in the process where dealing with officialdom was actually pleasant.
Seriously folks, if you or a friend are looking for gatekeeper letters and convenient to the Tacoma/Renton bit of the I-5 corridor, PM me and I will give you the web address. It generally costs $85.00 if you are paying out of pocket and they do sliding scale. Even with the gas money I spent with all the getting lost on the way there and back (*waves to the extremely pleasant and helpful people of Kent and their clear and accurate directions even if the cousin of the terrible 167 signage person also apparently did their highway related signs* A+, people of Kent), this is vastly less expensive than the gatekeeper process is and so much less hassle, stress, and trauma. It might honestly be worth it for folks in Oregon and Idaho, because gas and hotel is stiull cheaper than months of therapy for a trans man or years for a trans woman. I'm going to leave of my "the discrimination against the women of our community has been and remains appaling" rant as most of you have heard it.
Why are there so few trans health and mental health providers when the need is so massive? Poverty. Our unemployment rate remains in the 26% range because of massive employment discrimination. (It hits the PoC members of our community hardest because the discrimination against multiple minorities is often geometric). Yes, it's nice that Homeland Security no longer automatically outs trans job applicants to employers as part of George W. Bush's crusade against the imaginary trans terrorists, but some of us have mismatched documentation and passing privilege is still a thing. A lot of people will pick a less qualified cis applicant over a more qualified applicant and even more not only won't hire trans applicants under any circumstances and will fire people for transitioning. This is why we need GENDA, but the Republicans are firmly against fairness, so no point in holding your breath. Even in my state with it's strong protections, there are still ways around them, and people with massive out of pocket medical expenses who just lost their jobs have trouble hiring good lawyers. Even when we can get jobs we generally have these massive out of pocket medical expensive that are incredibly hard to deal with on minimum wage. Did I mention the poverty? So add on the massive and ever increasing expense of college, Medical School, etc., and the suprise is any of us manage to become medical or psychiatric practitioners.
Anyway, I made it home safe. Given the speed of the postal system around here my letter might arrive Friday, but more likely Monday. I got Squirrel's paperwork in to the office where they are almost never open, and I even got a few extremely short naps in between Hector waking me up to get proof I was really there and still alive with the associated reassurance pettins. Little miss came out and cadged the longest pet she's wanted from me ever.
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(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-14 01:42 am (UTC)I suspect the signmakers of Renton are similar to the signmakers in Lakewood and South Tacoma. It seems they do not want people to know where they're going in dangerous, high-crime areas.
And yes, probably the clock. :P