'It makes all the difference': TVDSB student finds comfort in latest move to use chosen name

E Webb, a non-binary student at Oakridge Secondary School in London, Ont., said they find comfort knowing students can now request to use their chosen name at school. 

Last week, the Thames Valley District school board announced that students can request to have their chosen names appear in different virtual platforms.

Webb, who uses they/them pronouns, said the school board's latest move makes "all the difference."

"Using your chosen name is important because it affirms your own identity," Webb told CBC's London Morning on Tuesday.

"Personally, I feel a lot more myself when people use my chosen name and it just overall creates a sense of comfort and sense of security in who you are as a person."

The #myname initiative was started with input from the Oakridge Secondary School Queer-Straight Alliance. 

The school board now allows transgender, non-binary, and genderqueer students to submit a form that will allow them to use their chosen or preferred name in many of the board's virtual platforms, including Google Classroom and Brightspace.

Some trans, non-binary and genderqueer people use a name different than their legal name, one that better suits their identity. 

Students will not need parental permission to request to use their chosen name, a move important for those whose chosen name might not match their birth name or whose parents may not be supportive of their decision.

"The initiative is designed to remove some of the barriers that students have faced," said Rowan Inglis, a teacher at Oakridge and staff advisor of the Queer Straight Alliance.

"In particular ... getting their online profile names and other aspects of their school identity being updated to meet their chosen or more authentic identity without having to go through some of the more arduous paperwork processes," he said.

The move also gives the autonomy back to students by providing them the option to do so themselves, Inglis said.

"Having this option really allows for a more transparent and open way to navigate what your lived identity could look like."

Webb requested their name change at the beginning of the school year, with their parents' approval, but not everyone is able to take that route.

With students learning remotely this school year, Webb said it has especially made it more difficult for their classmates and friends who may not have supportive parents and have to conceal their identities at school.

"Seeing your birth name everywhere, especially when that's the only thing that your other classmates are seeing, can be a little jarring sometimes," they said.