Yelling at the Red Cross, again

[azurelunatic]

"Dear? Is it okay if I send the Red Cross a vaguely threatening letter?"

I would very much like to avoid being called by my dead name when getting contacted about my donation. Unfortunately, your email today to confirm my blood donation appointment was personalized with that name. That makes twice, today. Your nice phone agent found an old account under my dead name and merged them, and did not seem to register that the name I had given to her was important. Later in the call she used the wrong name. I asked her to please use [my initials] and she said she would enter it as a nickname. This evidently does not feed into the email personalization. It sends a clear signal that while the intentions of every person may be good, the systems they rely on will likely set them up to give me a bad day.

The name that should be used in email, face to face communication, and every other context that is not literally looking at my ID should be [as above].

If you want transgender blood donors, this is important to get correct. Due to the blood shortages, I suspect you need every donor you can get.

(The vague threat, of course, is that I will tell every other transgender person I know about how their system seems to work.)

Comments

[alexseanchai]

🧸

[batrachian]

They were already kinda on my shit list.

This doesn't help.

[azurelunatic]

It does not.

[pauamma]

Bleh. (I'm still trying to get DWB and Amnesty to have a nonbinary/won't say/other gender option and or make that optional, on donation forms. I gave up on the French foodbanks federation ever doing that. IIRC, they never acknowledged my requests.)

[azurelunatic]

But if THREE people nag for gender neutral options on the form, if THREE people ask for it, they may think it's a Movement!

*waits for the chorus to come around again on the guitar*

[pauamma]

Perhaps even a Cabal! (TINC)

[vass]

You can get anything you want...

Grrrrrrrrrr!

[ravan]

I have to live with medical and dental only using my wallet name and assigned at birth gender. Some are smart and ask both assigned at birth and preferred gender, but not many.

I had the same problem at my pharmacy going for my booster, where the clerk said, loudly "[birth gender], right?" I went off, saying "I'm actually non-binary, but they wouldn't let me put that on the damn form!" She went and got the pharmacist, who dealt with me quite professionally and didn't make a stink about my gender.

I use my initials because I'm enby. If I know I've told them my preferred name (initials), I get downright unfriendly when they ignore my preference. It's bad enough I have to be binary designated in a medical environment (because there are a few things that are chromosome linked), but if you can use my preferred name I am much happier.

But blood donation? They don't need to use your dead name and assigned at birth gender. There aren't sex-linked differences in blood.

Re: Grrrrrrrrrr!

[azurelunatic]

My medical has a place in their system for preferred name, but it is extremely not prominent on the printed out forms and the appointment reminder calls deadname in a delightful mechanical voice. Dental texts me appointment reminders for "DeadName (preferred name D.N.)" which ... Well. An effort was made. [youtriedstar.jpg]

This time around (when I attempted to donate in January) they explained that they want to know whether they need to screen for anti-HLA antibodies, which is more common in people who have ever been pregnant. And I guess in their infinite wisdom [MASSIVE eyeroll] they have that question hidden behind an AGAB decision tree. So as not to risk the indignation of the cis men??? At least they aren't using "have had children" as a proxy for pregnancy...

Also they have different minimum donor weights by gender and I think they use AGAB for that too.

Re: Grrrrrrrrrr!

[castiron]

My favorite part of my local blood center's decision tree is how they have to ask "Have you carried a pregnancy to seven months or more since your last donation?" when they can see on the screen in front of them that I was in to do platelets three weeks ago.

Re: Grrrrrrrrrr!

[azurelunatic]

AAAGHHHHHHHHHHH WHYYYYYYYYYYYY

Re: Grrrrrrrrrr!

[batrachian]

ASK THE ACTUAL FUCKING QUESTIONS YOU NEED TO ASK INSTEAD OF THIS INSULTING AND ASSUMPTIVE LAYER OF OBFUSCATION.

</ND soapbox rant>

[silveradept]

There is another blood donation organization in your area, but I have no idea whether or not they are any better about needing to be vaguely threatened or not.

[azurelunatic]

I have several ears and am listening!

[silveradept]

Cascade Regional Blood Services also does blood donation work, and I feel like they might be better at a lot of things, since their FAQ states:

To that end, we strongly support ongoing research initiatives designed to determine if donor-screening alternatives based on individual behaviors, not based on sexual or gender identity, will provide equivalent or superior transfusion safety. We encourage the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to continue its examination of deferral criteria for men who have had sex with men (MSM) to ensure the use of rational, science-based deferral periods that are applied fairly and consistently among blood donors.

[ephemera]

Firstly, I'm sorry - that sounds deeply frustrating

Secondly, kudos for keeping the focus on *the system that needs changing*, and not the individual call taker etc.