When an intersex child is born there often is a shortage of professional counselling and support for the parents. Time and again, parents have reported that they have been pushed by doctors to have disambiguation surgeries performed on their child's genitals. Many intersex people feel that these treatments, which are often performed before the children are capable to give consent and which also involve mutilation, sterilisation, castration and cosmetic surgery, are gross violations of their physical integrity. Mistreatment, tabooing and withholding important information have serious consequences for intersex people’s lives and quite often lead to trauma.

Furthermore, health insurance funds are not prepared for necessary treatment of intersex people. Even though intersex people who have been operated on, for instance, clearly face a higher risk of developing gonad cancer (testicular and ovarian cancer), relevant preventive check-ups are only rarely covered by health insurance funds or only if the patient has a certain age. While a great number of medical examinations may be claimed irrespective of gender, intersex people often fall through the cracks as health insurance funds only cover certain costs for people who are registered as “female” or “male” and who have physical characteristics which are attributed to one sex. Thus, “maternity allowance” is only paid to “female insured parties” of a health insurance fund, even though the Maternity Protection Act applies to all people who are pregnant, who have given birth to a child or who are breastfeeding. (https://www.boell.de/sites/default/files/menschenrechte_zwischen_den_geschlechtern_2.pdf)

Intersex people are subjected to discrimination in all areas of life. A study initiated by the Heinrich Böll Foundation looked into numerous cases of structural discrimination.

In particular, as regards an open gender non-conforming physical appearance or behaviour which is not in line with the stereotypical male or female gender, there is verbal discrimination and even physical violence, all the way to life-threatening situations.