Help a trans woman recover from a hate crime

On October 9th, I was assaulted on Ohio State University’s campus. My friend (who is also trans) was in the process of moving out of his house and I had agreed to watch his car as it’s a convertible and the top was down. He had just finished up when a group of men approached us and began hurling transphobic and homophobic insults at us and being generally nasty. I got out of the car and went to confront them as this has happened to me many times before and I am tired of just walking away. As I stood face to face with them, they then threw me on the ground and began to punch and kick my face. I was bleeding profusely and called for an ambulance which scared them off. 

At the ER, they discovered that my orbital bone and jaw had been fractured and that I would need stitches for the lacerations. While I am lucky it isn’t worse than it is, I am in constant terror walking around campus and am frequently the victim of street harassment. There is always the possibility that it could escalate to this and this just happened to be the first time it did. 

I am at a loss as to what I can do to regain some power over my environment. The best ideas I can come up with are means of self defense, whether that’s taking classes or other non-lethal means to protect myself. I am even considering relocating to a less chaotic part of town. 

My only income is from disability so my ability to pursue a sense of safety is very limited. All funds will go to recovering from this trauma, including securing means of self defense, and first months rent/a security deposit on a new place in a less volatile neighborhood. 

I very much appreciate you taking the time to read this, and even if you can’t donate, sharing this would be a tremendous help.

Thank you.