Sex and Gender Identification and Implications for Disability Evaluation

Ash Alpert, MD, MFA, (pronouns they/them), Instructor of Medicine (Hematology), participated in a panel session on Sex and Gender Identification and Implications for Disability Evaluation for the Social Security Administration on Friday, December 1.

Some of the topics discussed included:

1. Extreme barriers exist for transgender people presenting for oncology care.
2. Dysphoria poses as big of a risk to morbidity and mortality as cancer and should be treated as such. In other words, barriers to gender-affirming interventions in the context of cancer care should be removed.
3. Characterizing transgender people as a population with special needs is likely less accurate and effective than considering the ways that cancer systems should be degendered and otherwise changed to better meet the needs of all people.