Gender identity is our internal sense of who we are, and gender expression is how we express our identity to others through how we act, clothing, hair styles, and personal characteristics. Understanding gender identity and expression is an important part of sexual health education as 2 in 5 transgender adults also identify as having a disability. It is important your child understands that healthy people and relationships often look different than the non-disabled and heteronormative representations in popular media. This resource list offers resources on understanding gender identity, expression, and sexual orientation.
This website has a module to review topics such as sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and other LGTBQ+ information.
Source: OAR (organization for Autism Research)
This resource hub provides articles and activities on a number of sexual health topics, including how to support your child with understanding their gender and sexual identity. It has explanations about gender identity and sexual identity and some teaching strategies.
Source: Planet Puberty
This blog post discusses a lesson provided from The Birds and The Bees curriculum. It shares the activities in the lessons and what is discussed. This page specifically offers information on gender roles and identity
Source: Sarah Curtiss, PhD
This graphic can be used to discuss gender, identity, expression.
Source: Trans Student Educational Resources
From this webpage you can download the Gender Identity and Transgnder Guide which offers simple explanations about sex, gender, gender expression, transgender, etc. This guide also covers how to support a transgender person.
Source: Elevatus
This is a powerpoint presentation for parents and educators of youth with disabilities to discuss gender identity and sexuality in youth with Autism and other disabilities. Further, this resources helps parents and educators in addressing youth and disability needs as well as youth and gender-identity needs.
Source: Cori Fraser, LSW Pittsburgh Center for Autistic Advocacy
This is a fact sheet for educators on how to assist transgender youth in the classroom. While this resource is not disability specific, it is a great information sheet for educators to share and discuss with one another to collaboratively support transgender students in schools.
Source: U.S. Department of Education
This article discusses the intersection of neurodiversity and gender diversity and how facets of ADHD can influence ones understanding of identity. The article provides information regarding how families can support a youth with ADHD in exploring aspects of their identity.
Source: ADDitude- Sharon Saline, Psy.D., Julie Mencher, MSW
This book is for parents who are looking for ways to best support children and youth in understanding their own expression of gender. Dr. Ehrensaft explains the interconnected effects of biology, nurture, and culture to explore gender fluidity. The book provides terminology and descriptions of different gender affirming approaches.
Source: Diane Ehrensaft
These short videos cover a range of gender identities, gender expression, gender roles and stereotypes.
Source: Amaze
This website offers clear and helpful information to empower the teachers of tomorrow and make it easier to thrive in the profession by providing clear and helpful information such as knowing LGBTQ+ student's rights, how to create an inclusive classroom, and teaching LGBTQ+ subjects.
Source: TeacherCertification.com