Eating disorders affect hundreds of thousands of people around the world, yet most people still hold the stigma that they largely only affect smaller bodied, caucasian, cis-gender females. This stigma is seen across the board in treatment centres, medical practises, and societies. For this reason, people who do not fit this typical mould often face harsh and even life-threatening challenges when trying to find safe and inclusive spaces for recovery from their disordered eating.

In this episode I speak to Kevin (they/them) about some of these challenges. I acknowledge that I ask these questions from a privileged perspective. I hope that some questions I ask are relatable - as I am sure many have the same questions, but don’t step up to ask. I hope that this episode helps those who fall into the trans+, intersex, and gender diverse populations will recognise my attempt to truly hear what you have to say, and to allow for other professionals, organisations, and individuals to challenge their own stigma, biases, and treatment procedures.

Kevin is a disabled, queer artist from Western Massachusetts. Kevin’s art and activism speaks to their lived experience with mental health in an unfiltered way. They exhibit a passionate effort toward making the world a more accessible place for everyone. And their lifelong struggle with things like ARFID, chronic illness, etc fuels this passion. When they’re not, painting, sculpting, making or building something, they enjoy being at the Nubble Lighthouse, hanging with their cats Tucker and Potato, cooking and getting lost in the woods.

FEDUP is a collective of trans+, intersex, and gender diverse people who believe eating disorders in marginalized communities are social justice issues. Our mission is to make visible, interrupt, and undermine the disproportionately high incidence of eating disorders in trans and gender diverse individuals through radical community healing, recovery institution reform, research, empowerment, and education.

Find out more or how you can help at www.fedupcollective.org
and IG: @fedupcollective