Fifty-nine percent (59%) of intersex people in Asia didn’t get any support from their governments as the world continues to battle COVID-19. And this is even if 65% of them said COVID-19 had a serious impact on their financial situation; 30% are facing severe income reductions; and 24% claimed they are struggling to survive.
This is according to a study done by Intersex Asia, which earlier sought to check the effects of the pandemic on the intersex community in the region.
“Through this effort, we got to know that the pandemic created catastrophic challenges in all aspects of the lives of the community members who did not get any government support or any support from civil society organizations (CSOs),” the organization said in a press statement sent to Outrage Magazine.
Other findings of the study were:
- 24% of the intersex respondents had to move out due to inability to pay rents
- 37% stated that the pandemic had a huge impact on their education and learning
- 33% of the respondents didn’t have access to the internet
- 26% said that activism for intersex rights was affected by COVID-19
- 37 % were unable to access the medical institutions that are equipped to address the specific needs of intersex people; also, over 15% said that they were unable to seek treatment for COVID-19 infection fearing the discriminatory behavior of doctors and triggering of their intersex trauma
- Over 66% experienced worsening of their mental health during the pandemic
- 41% stated that lockdown measures and the consequent loss of human connection have been difficult on them
Intersex Asia hopes for the eventual inclusion of intersex people in mainstream discourses. This is because studies – for instance – may aboud for other members of the LGBTQIA community, such as gays and lesbians, but “this is not the case for intersex people.”
“(We hope for) intersex people and their experiences be understood widely (as they are) also included in (efforts),” Intersex Asia stated, noting how the forced invisibility could harm members of this community.
