Submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission on protecting the human rights of people born with variations of sex characteristics
This submission was written by Bonnie Hart, for and on behalf of the Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS) Support Group Australia, in consultation with the AISSGA Committee of Management.
The AISSGA would like to thank to the Australian Human Rights Commission for the opportunity to participate in this critical project. The AISSGA has been calling for a memorandum on medically deferrable surgeries where the individual is unable to provide full and informed consent since the 1990s. We have been calling for greater access to psychological services and the integration of peer support within multidisciplinary clinical teams for 15 years. We currently call for legislative protection of children with variations of sex characteristics, acknowledgement of previous harm caused from what were ostensibly experimental medical procedures, and the development of life-time standards of affirmative healthcare for all intersex persons.
At the time of writing, the AISSGA is not aware of a single referral of an intersex individual or parent from any Australian hospital in the past 10 years. Our critique of past and continuing medical treatment paradigms for all variations of sex characteristics means that our attempts at greater collaboration with hospitals has been met with ongoing resistance from clinicians and associated peak bodies who frame our concerns about human rights violations as being “bitter” and assert that medical practices have changed whilst not providing any transparency or evidence of treatment efficacy. At both organisational and personal levels such actions are dehumanising, demoralising, and contribute to volunteer burnout, additional stigma, family division, reduced health-seeking behaviours, and ongoing suffering within our community.
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