"I'VE been Tiffany less than two years, but she's been here all my life."

Tiffany DaSilva twirls her necklace nervously as she talks about the struggle leading to her decision to live as a transgender.

"I've always had this internal battle, it's like being two different people," she says. "It used to be 50/50, now it’s more 75/25, and the female side of me is winning.

"A lot of my life I've spent dying. Now I feel like I'm waking up, coming to my senses."

Now 51, Tiffany has been dressing as a woman in public for 18 months. "I changed my name to Tiffany Cassandra DaSilva - it was as far from Andrew Lane as I could get," she smiles, referring to her birth name. "I've wanted to be a woman since I was five but was scared to tell anyone. Where I'm from, if I'd come out as a transgender in the 1980s my life would've been hell. There's still intolerance - I've had my windows smashed and I get abuse in the street - but it's better than it was."

Britain has "a long way to go" to ensure equality for transgender people, according to the first report on the issue produced by a UK parliamentary committee, which called on the Government to produce a new strategy for full transgender equality within six months.

Recommendations includ a "root-and-branch review" of the NHS's treatment of transgender people, mandatory training for police officers on transphobic hate crimes; the option to record gender as 'X' in a passport; and training school staff to support "gender-variant" young people.

People with gender identity issues suffer high levels of transphobia daily; undermining their careers, living standards and mental and physical health, said the report from the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee, which estimates that around a third of transgender adults attempt suicide.

The inquiry heard that numbers of young people coming out as transgender have increased fourfold over five years, and 1,000 young people have transitioned with their parents' support.

For Tiffany, born a boy in 1964, that wasn't an option. "I first kissed a boy aged seven, it was just 'doctors and nurses' stuff but it felt natural," she says. By then, Tiffany was a victim of sexual abuse. "I was five when it first happened. I got sixpence to keep quiet," she says. "It was a couple of family friends initially. By the age of 12 I'd been with 30 men and two women. My family knew nothing. I knew it wasn't right but I'd quickly realised it was a way of getting money, gifts, anything I wanted. I saw it as love."

Tiffany, of Buttershaw, was a baby when her parents split up. "I don't have much memory of my dad, we moved here from Sussex when I was little and he stayed there."

As a teenager, Tiffany dated girls and boys, but the death of a girlfriend sent her into a spiral of addiction. "I had my first alcohol aged eight, it was part of the abuse," she says. "I started smoking cannabis at 12, tried speed at 15 and heroin at 19. It was how I dealt with the frustration of keeping my sexuality hidden, and the fear that my body would never feel right.

"When I was 19 my girlfriend died and I sank into drug addiction."

Suffering from depression, Tiffany was put in touch with Horton Housing Association's Substance Support Team in Bradford. She's now on a methadone recovery programme.

“I realised what a mess my life was and that I needed help," she says. "Now I'm controlling the drugs, rather than them controlling me."

Tiffany's support worker, Joanne Mason, helped her access the Equity Partnership, supporting Bradford’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. “Joanne’s been brilliant, helping me get my life back together," says Tiffany. "The Transpositive group is a big support; being with people who understand, and getting to know about hate crime laws, makes me feel safer.

"Me and 'the girls' went bowling recently, it was brilliant. We wore hair extensions and full make-up. It can be scary, stepping onto the street, there's always the fear of ridicule or violence, but most of the time I just do it. Whenever someone calls me a "dirty transvestite" I laugh at their ignorance."

"I live as a woman and I'm a lot more confident. My last job was in an office full of women, most of my friends are female. I love clothes shopping, I got some fabulous Bruce Oldfield trousers recently."

She laughs about her love of designer labels, and her size 10 figure. Then her eyes fill with tears. "This is the first time I've been my true self, but transition is hard," she says, in a quiet voice. "I have a future as Tiffany - but as Tiffany starts to live, Andrew starts to die. It feels like killing off a brother."

Tiffany feared she would lose friends when she came out. "But they've been very understanding," she says. "Some have been expecting it for a long time! My sister always suspected, and my daughter said: 'About time, Dad'.

"Trans issues are more acceptable now. It's part of the whole LGBT movement. People talk about it more openly."

In recent months this has been largely down to the high-profile gender transition of American TV star Caitlyn Jenner, formerly Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner, and Eddie Redmayne's Oscar-nominated performance in The Danish Girl, about 1920s artist Lili Elbe, one of the first people to undergo sex reassignment surgery.

Tiffany has applied for gender reassignment, but faces a long wait. "I can't go on the waiting list until I'm off methadone," she says.

"I've lived the wrong life - I've considered suicide, I've self-harmed," she adds, lifting her arm to reveal marks where she has pulled out chunks of skin. “I've lived in darkness, in abusive relationships. Now I want someone to love me as a I am."