Our new article 'Re-examining the Cass review: : A critical commentary on gender diversity research' has just been published in Educational and Child Psychology. (explore.bps.org.uk/content/bpse...) We even have an open access version available on the UoS Educational Psychology Research Blog:

The government emphasised today that they will not use the transgender community as some kind of political football. But they will kick it regardless.

Right at the end of #95 of my 100k wheelchair adventure, a couple of friends were waiting for me at the local pub, a well-deserved pint at the table. My friends spotted me from inside and started waving. And watched as a man we didn’t know, smiling, took hold of the chair, and ran away with me.

Kidnapped — Rolling for Initiative

I have very nearly reached my goal of 100k in May, raising £250 for the MS Society. Today I pushed 5k in the Rocinante, my trusty manual wheelchair, and tomorrow I push my final 5k to reach 100k, on t...

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The government nudging us toward vigilante justpiss is not the mood I expected to wake up to, but here we are I guess.

So weird to sit watching the clock waiting for the Government to strip you of your rights. I mean hurry up we all have places to be.

"And amazingly I took the effort to ensure that I coughed and spluttered in the right vocal register. The thing that I thought immediately wasn’t that I needed to avoid dying here, but rather that if I did start to drown, I’d better make sure my last moments were femme enough."

Drowning in a femme register — Rolling for Initiative

I went swimming for the first time in a long time today. I haven’t been swimming since my diagnosis with multiple sclerosis seven years ago, and I haven’t been to a public swimming pool in the UK sinc...

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'We need Evelyn’s strength. We cannot hope to defy such an imposing foe without the physical power we’ll need to stand against it. But we also need Waymon’s optimism, his kindness. MS is going to take our heart as much as our skills. And fighting MS requires love as much as it does a sword.'

This is how I fight — Rolling for Initiative

I was talking with a fellow MS-er today about the lifestyle changes we have had to make to manage the disease. We both feel an instinct to rebel against the rules imposed upon us by this disease, espe...

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"I’ve become Gwen Stacey, the friendly disabled girl bitten by a radioactive transgender spider. I've experienced radical physical changes, gained a new perspective on life, and if I'm stuck inside for too long I start climbing the walls. I'm scaling hills instead of buildings. But I am that girl."

Watching the L-word as Spider-woman — Rolling for Initiative

Before I began mounting the monster truck of transition and wheely-ing through the ring of fire of my life like it was Thunder Thursday, I listened to the podcast ‘Transponder’ with Mila and Jayna. Th...

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'I was too scared even to enjoy rollercoasters all that much. But MS forces you to live your entire life on a razor’s edge between life and loss. For me the choice was between either shutting my eyes and wishing for this ceaseless ride to end, or throwing my hands in the air and screaming.'

Girl, interrupted — Rolling for Initiative

This week I went to Exeter to give a keynote presentation at the Mentally Healthy Schools Conference. This was an outstanding event, exceptionally well organised, and I met so many wondeful people tha...

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With MS I find myself acting with urgency. I accept every invitation, flying into intimacy like a loving banshee, curling into affection like a stray cat. I rush from hug to hug. As though I can outrun it. As though if I just live hard enough I can live forever. But MS always exacts a price.

An MS obeisance — Rolling for Initiative

I have had a busy week. I love busy weeks. When the MS was at its worst I could not permit myself the luxury. I’d feel good, plan too many meetings, too many social activities, and at some point my en...

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Baroness Hilary Cass gave an interview to Laura Kuenssberg in which she made a number of bold claims about gender diverse children and young people. Were any of them supported by the evidence? One was. Let's discover which one, together, in Classroom Psychology!!!

The DfE's new draft guidance about keeping children safe in education misinterprets the literature in some critical ways specifically when talking about trans and non-binary children and young people. We followed the evidence. @whatthetrans.com - when we recorded, we immediately thought of you.

Special episode: Trans pupils and new draft safeguarding advice

YouTube video by The Educated Guess Podcast

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If I could slay Vecna I would not hesitate. But we become a stranger to our past self when he growls our name. And maybe this new woman is braver because she is afraid. Maybe she seeks love as the antithesis of the stagnation of his domain. Maybe the ticking clock makes more of her moments precious.

Being hunted by Vecna — Rolling for Initiative

I saw a post from a Redditor whom we'll call StillAir describing the fear of optic neuritis. They describe how they've been blind in one eye since childhood and ask about how people manage the fear of...

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'If I crashed a car into the front of a jewellery store and started filling my purse with necklaces I’d be in some trouble. But if I first pulled out my wheelchair, people would apologise for putting the shop in an inconvenient spot and ask if I needed help reaching the top shelf.'

Dodging poop and blame — Rolling for Initiative

I was wheeling on my usual 6k route, rolling on a track that runs alongside a river. It’s rather beautiful. In front of me, rapidly approaching, I see at the last second a dog poop steaming directly i...

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Cora sends out her annual holiday message. You are real, you are valid, you deserve a world in which you can belong as your authentic self, as you know yourself to be on the inside. How do we make a world where everyone can find a place to belong? Together.

Episode 52: A holiday message from Cora

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'We are seeing that people are detransitioning at a pretty high rate' There are two new systematic reviews about the rate of detransition. How high is too high? We take a look together and Cora leaves us with a message for this holiday season. It's Classroom Psychology!!!

Episode 51: Rates of detransition

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So yeah, dear reader, you’re going to feel unconfident. We don’t conform to society’s norms, we never have, but we can be free of them. We can find looks that work for us. We claim our place in this world and thwart the expectations of the beauty industry. What is beautiful? You are.

Confidence — Rolling for Initiative

I’m browsing the MS subreddit today when I come across a poster, whom we’ll call ‘The Rookie’ (intended with affection), talking about the totally valid concerns about relationships, with a sentence t...

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This week Cora can't stop laughing long enough to introduce the podcast, and we consider a future for the profession. Like the podcast, the profession is a party and everyone's invited. You're invited! What are you waiting for, get in here we've been waiting for you! It's the Educated Guess podcast!

It's not you, it's us.

Spotify video

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Multiple Sclerosis forces you to become someone new constantly and today I don't recognise myself. For all my strength and strident independence, for all the belligerence and defiance, for all my quixotic idealism, when I hit that road I find that I am suddenly, totally helpless.

This fall was a bad one — Rolling for Initiative

It might have been the impact, or the adrenaline spiking my body temperature, but my effort to even sit upright falters. I resignedly lie back in the middle of the road and look up at the sky. Nearby,...

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I finally reach the top of the hill in the Roci, the group of men following close behind. I thank one of the men and, what is now clear, his friends for all protecting me together. I explain that I’m trying to work out here and they look at one another, nod confusedly. … trying to work out what?

Putting hands on the chair — Rolling for Initiative

Today I’m wheeling on my regular Saturday 10k route. It’s hard, I’m not going to pretend it isn’t. Four kissing gates, rolling through tunnels of trees offroad, gravel and stones, inquisitive cows, ar...

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@edpsydan.bsky.social and I laugh about ice hockey, shared endeavours, cultural curricula, neo-liberal views of resilience, and singing at the cinema. Honestly, recording a podcast shouldn't be this much fun.

What can ice hockey teach us about resilience?

Spotify video

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'We will stand up for you' Is the world beginning to turn back toward supporting the trans community, and is there a way that we can grow and thrive even in a world that does not? Even in the context of transphobia, you know how we psychologically grow? Together. It's Classroom Psychology!!!

Episode 50: Post-traumatic growth

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Dan and I ponder sleep in adolescence and how our systems of school and work create problems when our adolescents naturally become night-owls. Then we think about being outside and how consultation outside can be good for creativity and collaboration. Welcome home to the Educated Guess podcast!

The Educated Guess Podcast Episode 3: A practice of sleep and walking

YouTube video by The Educated Guess Podcast

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'They should be in a straightjacket with a hard steel lock on it' Why are gender diverse folk reluctant to engage with research? Let's take care as we dive together into some of the most harmful research conducted on gender diverse people. It's Classroom Psychology. open.spotify.com/episode/3pDf...

Episode 2 of The Educated Guess was filmed in front of a live audience at the EdPsy Festival, and now you can listen and watch the episode on Youtube, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A moment to think about trans kids

Spotify video

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She bent low, clasped her hands, and smiled. I like to think of myself a rogueish corsair, a dragon rider, flying from place to place aboard the Rocinante, dashing and debonair. But when this lady wished me a happy birthday, which was in November, all I saw reflected back at me was... sympathy.

Happy Birthday?! — Rolling for Initiative

Our friends kindly gave us a voucher for a v-e-r-y swanky restaurant in London, so we made a day of it. We went to the aquarium, went to the Moulin Rouge musical, we laughed and rolled our way around ...

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'Mobility has to be the honourable mention. I’m good most of the time but when I’m hot or especially when a fever hits I walk like an adventurously bipedal stoat. Lifting my legs becomes less of a command and more of an enthusiastic hope, like offering prayers to Norse gods for the chance of rain.'

Trust to hope — Rolling for Initiative

Many symptoms of MS are annoying. Numbness in the fingers, spasticity in the legs, the occasional bladder spasm that threatens to cause a small localised flood. Such symptoms are challenging to manage...

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We started a new video podcast!! @edpsydan.bsky.social and I are hosts of the new podcast Educated Guess, where we talk about education, psychology, and society, and show just how much we have to learn. But fortunately we have educated guests to teach us. Welcome to Educated Guess!!!

Are schools ready for the future?

Spotify video

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'Now sure, he didn't give me his number. I was strong but I'd left attractive behind as soon as it started raining, and being this covered in mud with hair slick to my face, sexy was just a particularly strong option in scrabble.'

What matter wounds? — Rolling for Initiative

My journey with mobility challenges began 2 ½ years ago, when my last relapse changed my ‘couch to 5k’ into ‘mostly couch’ and the only ‘5 k' I was gaining tended to settle around my midriff. I used ...

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'Unequivocally... those who underwent surgeries faced higher risks.' This week Cora goes up against an influencer to understand how a handful of studies show surprising outcomes from transition related healthcare, and we look at a systematic review to break the deadlock. It's Classroom Psychology!!!