I've read your email. Thanky you very much for the offer. I relayed it. I would like to make sure it actually works when it arrives at her place. I heard the keyboards of those laptops are fine which would be a huge plus over her programming on her phone.
- It obviously increases the burn rate due to increased medical expenses which makes certain income thresholds to qualify for help harder to reach.
- It together with a comment suggesting parental abuse means she can't rely on family support
- There is discrimination against trans people. If xy% of people despise you because of your existince is a challange to their god and on those people decides how many hours you get that obviously has an impact.
I must congratulate you. Your cynical engagement both claiming this to maybe being a scam, acting worried for me and yet being very motivated to argue political points might have gotten this post removed from the top of AskHN where it was some time before you posted. I hope when i wake up that my genuine ask for help and advice got a few more eyeballs.
Both i and her have an effective social network reach of 0. I had considered asking for help but i have no idea where even to start. If you have any suggestion please email me. You seem to have a good grasp of her situation. Any lead would be helpful.
Thank you for being concerned. No she is not asking for money. I came into contact with her when i discussed a project of mine in a Discord server. She approached me to join that project, did good work, showed geniune interest and had good ideas she was working on. I was looking forward to collaborate more with her. Her hours were cut after she helped the workplace find an issue in their IT infrastructure (which she reported proprely and professionally). It became obvious she didn't deal well with that. She was very overwhelmed with that situation and i offered her which help she accepted.
I had not looked into that. There actually is a hackerspace however the rates for membership are $60 per month[1]. The discounted rates don't seem to apply to her situation. [2] It is not obvious whether that space even would be trans friendly. I can see if i can reach someone from there to get a vibe or an idea.
> If the have tech skills I would think they could get a basic job easily.
One would think so naively. I am working towards trying to help her find a job. I have not been at it for long. If you have some insight where i might help her find a basic job making use of her embedded/backend C, C++ skills developing cross platform {Linux, Windows} x {ARM, x86_64} emulator writing tools which work as library and as application with integrated LUA interpreters i would be thankful. It doesn't have to be that specific but that might give people an idea what flame she is cooking with.
I encourage you look into reports from amnesty international, they document such stuff well. They are usually a year behind on stuff, the German report about 2022 reads
> Darüber hinaus wurden in verschiedenen Bundesstaaten Dutzende von Gesetzentwürfen eingebracht, die darauf abzielten, den Zugang zu gender-bestätigender Gesundheitsversorgung ("gender-affirming healthcare") für trans Jugendliche einzuschränken. [1]
Which i would loosely translate: Different states introduced dozens of law proposals which aim to reduce access to gender-affirming health care for trans teenagers.
In 2023 a lot more stuff has happened [2] and might be in preperation.
Gender-affirming care is as far as the data suggests the best way to treat ICD-10 F64.0 and sub categories. Denying people those treatments to a legitimate and internationally recognized diagnosis is depriving them health care. Health care is a human right [3].
You are right. This kind of justified anxiety fets stacked on top. But she is currently not in a position to move. I have already done the equivalent of a FIOA to German immigration office[1] to get their current evaluation of the trans situation in the US and whether they qualify for asylum status.
They don't take it as serious as they should. However atleast the orders how to deal with trans peoples seem respectful of their status and some of the complications.
It's getting late here in Germany. Thank you for your input so far. I probably should have put the city name (Chattanooga) in the post. Let me hit on the two aspects so far.
My impression is that the US goverment can't really be relied on to help people dig themselves out of such holes. Those social programs are designed to prevent people from starving not put people in a position where they are able to efficiently be able to contribute to society.
I am not aware of substance abuse issues. There is psychological baggage though related to parental abuse and being trans.
This sounds useful. Does that apply to faux "independent contractors" too?
In Germany we have a word "Scheinselbständigkeit". People are formally self-employed/independent contractor which are actually totally dependent and this is used to circumvent social security protections.
I think something like that might be going on here.
She is accessing PCs at work and when she is over with friends. Web technology is great for making stuff accessible. That the local library has a reservation system for public "workstations" makes me dubious one could productively programm there. That the computers in many locations are not available on the weekend makes this harder.
> Public computers and WiFi are available at all five branches of the Chattanooga Public Library. Access to the computers is limited to 2 hours per day if other patrons are waiting. Reservations can be made for the next available computer by phone or in person.
