Queensland Transgender Conference Attended by Dr Az Hakeem!

Dr Az Hakeem was one of the keynote speakers to address the Queensland Transgender, Sistergirl, and Gender Diverse Conference. The conference held on 24th and 25th August 2012 at Rydges Esplanade Resort, Cairns.

The conference was a success! Now, Cairns leads the way for Transgender health in Australia. The conference attracted over 160 participants from not only Queensland but also interstate and internationally. There was a great mixture of community members and medical professionals attending including the renowned Prof Milton Diamond from Hawaii and activist Peter Hyndal from A Gender Agender ACT.

This conference was for:

Community members and people providing transgender care including General Practice, mental health, surgery, specialist medicine, nursing, speech therapy, and Non Government Organisations those are:

1.  strengthening trans, Sistergirl and gender diverse people and communities
2.  improving referral pathways, guidelines and clinical networks
3.  progressing our knowledge, and progressing trans health and well being.

Internet Trolling

What is Internet Trolling? 

It is the practice of anonymously abusing other often vulnerable people on the internet. The problem is getting worse.

Transcription of Dr Az Hakeem’s view on Weekend Sunrise program on what motivates online abuse…

What motivates online trolls?

We can't presume all perpetrators are the same; we got to separate out those who don’t have any capacity and awareness on the impact they have on others… people with severe mental illness or people with an autistic spectrum disorder. Those who haven't fully developed their capacity, like young children and those clearly do have the capacity to know the impact of what they are doing. Of this group we can separate them further into those who do it on the spur of the moment and those who do it in a more planned way. 

The spur of the moment people we can consider those as similar to the other aggressive offences which happen impulsively like... road rage where people… when they may be indicative of poor tolerance to frustration threshold… they may regret later. 

The more planned and calculated trolling is more like a psychopathic behaviour. It is the callous disregard for other people’s feeling or even the craving of excitement derived from seeing the suffering of others.

What do Psychopaths get from damaging someone?

That’s quite psychopathic; the sadism… the getting enjoyment from other people's suffering it is quite psychopathic. But whilst… one option is… we’ve either got a sudden increase in the number of psychopaths which is very unlikely or there is something about the internet which facilitates a kind of psychopathy in people who are otherwise not psychopaths.

Is prison the right place for people like this?

If we think of systems of authority we can think of internal systems which are in our lives as our conscience and external frameworks of authority. It seems to be… with internet trolling when internal systems fail the external system may be a useful deterrent in the criminal legal system.

For the video link click here 

Dr Az Hakeem's Views on Children in Crisis!

Stories involving children in crisis have raised serious questions about kids and their parents.  Dr. Az Hakeem shared his thoughts on 'Weekend Sunrise' programme on Australian TV and below is a transcription...

What are the reasons for children to run away from home? 

Every year 30 thousand Australians go missing and more than half of that number are below the age of 18. 

What are a the warning signs the Parents should look for:..

1. The child becoming more isolative
2. More arguments at home, 
3. Changes in behaviour and these happen usually in teenagers. 

The signs are really vague and these don't really help much in teenagers. It makes it quite difficult to identify. But, the more unusual the child’s behavior is from what you expect and that could be a sign. 

The pull and push factors of children running away:-

The pull factor can be the idea when child feels life can be better when they have more freedom.

The push factor can be impulsive acts in response to recent event/an anticipated event, running away from something at a spur of the moment kind of thing. 

For some children it is not impulsive, it is a planned escape perhaps when they have some conflicts at home, conflict with parents, a style of parenting to get away from, or they worry they can be in trouble for something, or they may have some problems with drugs or alcohol or might be coming out with their sexuality or something like that. 

Some group are escaping from some form of physical/sexual or emotional abuse. There is another category where it is termed 'throw away-runaway children'...where is not clear whether they have been run away or thrown out of home- a blurred category. 

What parents can do to prevent this:

There is no foolproof way to prevent this. If you think of the run away child as indicative of something having  gone wrong from their environment they are running away from; then surely getting that environment right is the best approach. 

Other things that parents can do include...

1. Providing a supportive environment for the child
2. Being available to talk to the child when something is wrong
3. Fostering a culture of emotional articulacy within the family 
4. Children having the freedom to approach you and talk to you when something's up, this is very straight forward. This is really not taking place in most of the families. 

It takes time and effort in fostering an environment which is supportive.

For the video click here.