WS 33 Language that Works
Exercises
Group 1
Health Insurance
You will have a meeting with the ministry in charge of social security, including the reimbursement of medical transition. In your country, 60% of medical treatment costs are covered. For trans people this is granted only randomly, i.e. the decisions are taken randomly. Often, requests from minors, ethnical minorities and people without a diagnosis from the state hospital are turned down.
The ministry asked you to send them a short paper with your demands upfront. It is your task to formulate these demands.
Group 2
Legal Gender Recognition
You are working for the national trans organization of a state where LGR is not available and there is no law about it. A political party wants to introduce a motion in parliament demanding a law fully respecting human rights. They ask for your support and invite you to a meeting to discuss the wording and demands of the motion. You have to write a written input based on an internal discussion your organization had for the party members to prepare themselves. The secretary of your organization wrote the following notes:
“Meeting with party:
All present members agree that having a law would be good. Longer discussion about our demands and who should go to the meeting.
Decision: It is important that the new law includes legal gender recognition for all trans people, no medical requirements, clear procedure, no forced divorce, for free or low cost. Staff will write the written input for the party until October, 26.”
Group 3 – 5
Reformulate all texts using Human Rights language.
Group 3 start here
1) Description of accessibility of trans-specific health care in country X:
“According to our survey, there is only one case who finished the whole procedures, but excluding the final surgery.”
2)”Transsexuals should be allowed to use the benefits under the law for health care”
Group 4 start here
3)“Transsexual refers to a person who has a gender identity which does not correspond to the sex assigned at birth and consequently feels a profound need to permanently correct that sex and to modify bodily appearance or function by undergoing gender reassignment treatment.”
4)“There are, however, some preconditions for an official change of sex: the existence of a constant and irreversible inner conviction to belong to the other sex; a physical adaptation to the other sex; and the incapability of the person to beget children in accordance with his/her former sex.”
Group 5 start here
5) “The law allows transgender persons to change their registered gender.”