Transgender voice training

[kaonamai.livejournal.com]

I just want to pass this information along. I work at the Westchester Institute for Human Development, which is about 45 minutes north of NYC, and we recently opened a voice care center. It offers vocal training for transgendered individuals (in addition to other services). Here is the info from the flyer:

The Voice Care Center is the newest program of the Speech and Hearing Center. It is the only voice care center in the suburban New York City area which offers a comprehensive voice assessment laboratory and provides assessment and treatment of voice disorders five days per week. All therapists, two of whom are singing voice specialists, are licensed by New York State, and recognized by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Our highly-skilled team is dedicated to providing the best care for children and adult patients and professional voice users including:

-Care of the professional voice for singers, actors, teachers, presenters, lecturers, clergy, salespeople, etc.
-Voice problems resulting from vocal lesions such as nodules, polyps, and granulomas
-Muscle tension dysphonia
-Neurological disorders (e.g., spasmodic dysphonia, vocal fold paralysis, Parkinson?s disease)
-Functional disorders (e.g., conversion dysphonia, mutational falsetto puberphonia), dysphonia plicae ventricularis (ventricular phonation)
-Pediatric voice disorders
-Geriatric voice problems (e.g., bowed vocal folds)
-Voice disorders related to reflux (laryngopharyngeal reflux; gastroesophageal reflux)
-Paradoxical vocal fold motion disorder (VCD; PVFMD)
-Transgender voice training
-Voice enhancement for non-disordered voice

For an appointment or additional information, please call 914-493-7294 or visit http://www.wihd.org.

(x-posted to various communities)

Living to tell about laser

[noche2point0.livejournal.com]

I just got zapped 746 times over at the laser clinic during my first appointment for facial hair treatment. I got the full face done in about 45 minutes. And it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated.

I believe that at times, the pain can be overstated in some of the posts on the TG-related blogs here on LJ and elsewhere on the Web, and it creates false impressions of what the experience is going to be like, and it thereby unnecessarily pumps fear into people who are pondering undergoing such treatments. I know everyone's pain threshold is different, but still, I think it tends to be blown out of proportion a bit. The best thing to do is to take anything that's posted online with a HUGE grain of salt, and talk to a medical professional to get the real lowdown.

OK, editorial over. Now on to the experience.

Did it hurt? Shit, yeah. It kind of felt like being pricked really fast by a very fine needle. Was it unbearable? Hell, no. I have to admit, though, that my eyes welled up with tears a little as certain areas were treated, such as the spot where the neck and the chin meet. The neck is generally one of the most sensitive areas, as well as the area just under the nose and right by the lips. And the smell of hair burning isn’t all that pleasant. Other than that, it was pretty easy. And the nurse who administered my treatment was excellent. She was extremely professional and offered some good morale-boosting while she did my more sensitive spots.

My face was a little red afterward, and it stung like I had a bad sunburn. But that only lasted for about an hour. I'm fine now, and my face looks very well. My appointment was at 2 p.m. and it's now 4 p.m. as I type this, just to give some perspective regarding the time element.

So, what do I do now? I was instructed to abide by the following regimen using the freebies I was provided with (as shown in the fuzzy Web cam pic):

• Use an over-the-counter gentle cleanser instead of soap to wash my face, and use cool water instead of warm or hot.


• Apply a medicated, prescription cream twice daily for up to three days to avoid inflammation (which doesn't even seem to be a problem at this point after only one application).


• Use moisturizer after the application of the medication.


• Apply sunscreen 30 minutes before leaving the house, and if I am going to remain outdoors, reapply it every hour as needed.

Additionally, my face has a number of what are called "pepper spots," which are basically dried out hairs that wound up flush with the surface of the skin. They basically blend with the beard shadow, and all I have to do is wait for some growth and then shave it. I could probably do that by about Sunday night or Monday morning. The thing is not to pick at them because then that could create small scarring.

And that's about the size of it. I go back in about six weeks.

I gotta say, I almost chickened out of the appointment when I woke up this morning. When I was driving over to the skin practice, I felt like I was commuting to my own beheading. But the treatment went by fast. And I am happy!

(X-posted on Androgyny, Transgender, Crossdressing and my own blog.)

(no subject)

[faeriedebutante.livejournal.com]

I finally got the nerve up to go femme my final semester of highschool, and it's caused a serious loss of male friends at my school. I've gotten a sort of mean vibe from every guy at my school, with the exception of a few eccentric or really really nice outliers, who stand out from the crowd in other ways than just their attitude toward me, but maybe this "vibe" I'm feeling just a generalization based on a few terrible souls?

so today at lunch I was looking around for someone to eat with, since Ms Wilburn couldn't have us in her classroom today, and I found Jessi. she was sitting outside in the park with some guy smoking a joint. The guy beside her. he was a homophobic looking guy with sort of a wanna-be-gangsta/druggie/loser/angry look to him. he looked like one of those guys that would pick on me if he could get away with it, and weren't too stoned to know what was going on most of the time.

so Jessi and I are chatting and we come to a lull in the conversation and the guy says "so... would you rather I call you Amy or Corrie?"

I was shocked. I told him "here I go by Corrie because it's my legal name, it's on all the attendance things, and everyone here knows me by it. even if it really mattered, I wouldn't be able to get everyone to call me Amy all the time. the part that really matters to me is pronouns"
he couldn't remember what a pronoun was
"she, her, that kind of thing."
"oh. alright, I'll do that. that was going to be my next question. I wasn't sure so I figured I'd ask. I remember seeing you at PCEP a while back and so it kinda came as a shock to see you like this this semester. I think it takes alot of guts to do what you're doing. especially here. people talk shit about you and shit, but I can really respect that you're just being your own person. I think that's cool"

then we talked about a few other issues, like my sexual preference, how surprised everyone was to hear I had a girlfriend and stuff.
Jessi mentioned that she's a lesbian and that everyone knows it here, and he said that's all fine and cool, it's just not for him.

he really surprised me. I guess maybe I needed a lesson in not taking people for their face value? I think we all need to be reminded of such things every once in a while. it was both humbling and made my day wonderfull. I'm glad I wasn't too afraid to go sit by him.

after he left I asked Jessi what his name was. Sheldon is a pretty cool guy I guess.

ok question.

[kerrigurl-25.livejournal.com]

does anyone know of any doctors in south mississippi, mobile, or new orleans that has experience with TS issues? such as prescribing hormones?