Trans healthcare on campus must be a priority, says NUS Trans Officer Eden Ladley

National Union of Students (NUS) Trans Officer Eden Ladley has outlined plans to work to improve transgender healthcare across campuses nationwide.

Speaking at the University of Warwick, Ladley was hosted by Warwick Students’ Union (SU) Trans Students’ Officer to celebrate Trans Awareness Week, discussing ‘The Past, Present and Future of Trans Student Activism’.

Eden Ladley speaking at Warwick on Trans Student Activism. (Image: Nicole Karageorgi / The Boar)

Before being elected the 2019/20 NUS Trans Officer, Ladley was the NUS LGBT+ Officer (Women’s Place) in 2018, where she “campaigned on Gender Recognition Act reform, built connections with LGBT+ societies in SUs and was part of the national Save NUS Trans campaign.”

3% of the student population identifies as transgender, says Ladley, whose priorities for this year include reaching out to SUs and university campuses around the UK to ensure trans students are “heard”.

The officer also hopes to “improv[e] access to trans healthcare, fight transphobia on campus and creat[e] sustainable self-organised spaces to amplify the voices of trans students and young people.”

One of the most prominent campaigns surrounding trans rights on university campuses focused around the implementation of gender neutral toilets. Ladley told The Boar that “Gender neutral toilet campaigns across the country have been really successful [including] at Warwick.

In relation to the most important issues for students on campus, access to privacy and safety is one of the most important and gender neutral toilets are of course a part of this, but it is not the only issue

– Eden Ladley, NUS Trans Officer

“In relation to the most important issues for students on campus, access to privacy and safety is one of the most important and gender neutral toilets are of course a part of this, but it is not the only issue.”

Another main priority for Ladley this year involves tackling trans access to hormones and transition related healthcare.

“A lot of institutions run primary care services but not any specialised healthcare or transition related healthcare. A lot of students experience transphobia from GPs and sexual health clinicians.

“A trans student at Warwick claimed that the University health service does not offer blood testing, which is a barrier to trans students for access to good healthcare. It may be something trans students at Warwick should focus on campaigning for this year.”

Ladley also outlined that believes that placing Trans Awareness Week on the on the lead-up to Trans Day of Remembrance does trans people a disservice. Trans Day of Remembrance is held on November 20, a day that is a time of remembrance for trans people who have passed away due to trans violence.

She told The Boar: “It is sort of like if you have a relative’s funeral who died of cancer and in the run up to their funeral you are asked to do a lot of free awareness raising events for people who died of cancer. That would be seen as inappropriate, but that is what a lot of institutions expect trans people to do.

I think that what some of the comments that were heard during the discussion following the talk established Warwick still has a lot of challenges to overcome if it’s truly to become a trans-inclusive place for their students

– Eden Ladley, NUS Trans Officer

“Because it is one of the only occasions when institutions will listen to trans people, we feel obligated to take that opportunity even if we would much rather be remembering mourning our dead.”

Ladley thus suggested that Trans Awareness Week would be better held in the run-up to the Trans Day of Visibility which is March 31.

Home Office statistics recently found that there has been a 37% increase since last year in transphobic hate crimes. However, there are low report rates by the trans community allegedly due to fear and a lack of confidence in the police force.

Ladley suggested that there appears to be a considerable knowledge gap on the police’s part and encouraged further improvements in active bystander training.

“Students’ Unions and universities have achieved a lot in relation to active bystander training and I think a lot of those lessons could be learned and applied to people who experience hate crime.”

The NUS are installing a national plan for action which is composed of three areas. Firstly, the NUS will create a comprehensive guide for colleges that are often places where trans activism is restricted due to the lack of free time in comparison to university schedules.

Warwick was named the top university where students sought help for gender and transgender issues between 2016 and 2018

SU’s will also receive a guide on how to deal with anti-trans events on campus, events that have increased in frequency.

The third area of focus by the NUS will be “championing a tran-students’ right to privacy.” Ladley emphasised how an individual being recognised by their lived gender “is not a radical right but simply [their] right to privacy.”

The University of Warwick was named the top university where students sought help for gender and transgender issues between 2016 and 2018, a Freedom of Information request (FoI) reports.

Ladley believes that the disparity between Warwick and other university figures were the result of accurate data collection on Warwick University’s part that may not have been replicated in other universities.

The officer concluded that making generalisations from these statistics have limited usefulness when not used in conjunction with consulting trans students at Warwick themselves.

“I think that what some of the comments that were heard during the discussion following the talk established Warwick still has a lot of challenges to overcome if it’s truly to become a trans-inclusive place for their students.”