Becoming disabled by choice, not chance: ‘Transabled’ people

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I have a hard time accepting this... as a caregiver to a disabled person (who I knew long before they became disabled) I know first-hand what a huge impact it has had on their life, mostly for the worse. The only positive is that they have been able to meet some great friends through their disability through support groups and the like.

Depression, feelings of hopelessness, loss of self worth, feeling ignored by society (seriously, being in a wheelchair may as well make you invisible because that's how you are treated)... and yet these perfectly healthy people are willingly chosing to alter their bodies in these extreme ways? It's insulting to those who struggle with true disability and would give so, so much to not have to live like that.
 
Moff said:
there were times when homosexuals and transgender people were accused of "mental illness", too, if this really is a neurological problem as stated in the article then I have no reason to not take this seriously
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homosexuals and trans people aren't mutilating their body
 
As long as they don't go claiming any benefits these crazy people can do what they like, also an insult to those that are disabled.
 
I think many identity issues are philias. They are arbitrary fetishes. They have no referent to factors outside of an idea that someone has gotten into their head. And I think we can accomodate most of them, as long as they do not harm themselves or others. No one ever said that an identity issue must be "medically objectively provable" to be tolerable and healthy enough to allow in our peers.

This issue sounds like "harming themselves". I wouldn't let someone cut themselves. I wouldn't let them amputate their own limb to an even greater degree.

We do have to draw a line somewhere. That line is "harm".
 
If I recall correctly, Chloe Jennings was on a show called "Taboo" on the National Geographic channel. I believe she was shown to use handicap parking spaces, ask people for help at work due to her "disability", and enjoy hiking. Play pretend if you want, but don't impede real disabled people to do so.
 
maquiladora said:
Only a few decades ago people would have said the same and transgender people, hell there are still people who say that now.

Just because something is unfamiliar to us or seems "weird" we shouldn't rush to label it as an illness....
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It's hard to understand, but I think this is kind of my thought at the moment... There isn't a single argument in this thread that wouldn't have been used against transgender people at some point.

I mean cutting off an arm looks like straight self-mutilation... and it is, but there is no acceptable/safe outlet for people with these kind of thoughts and that can lead to extreme behaviours.

Hell, just replace arm with penis in that previous paragraph to see where the transgender movement used to be.

(This post feels potentially insulting, I'm not speaking against transgender people in anyway, just trying to understand the topic at hand.)
 
Self-harming is wrong... unless you put empowerment in the equation. Then it's a tale of privilege and tolerance.
 
I saw a case like this on Untold Stories of the E.R. They guy had cut his own hand off and threatened to do it again once they found his hand in the fridge. After a emergency medical ethics committee is formed they agreed that they should let the man live as he wants.
 
Yeah I heard about that women who wanted her spinal cord cut by a doctor but she couldn't afford it (she's the one pictured in the OP). Speechless.
 
Guys these people aren't doing it for kicks, they actually do have a dysphoria the same as trans people do. We tried treating it in other ways, but the only way we've found that works is to help the brain inhabit the body it wants to.

Shuggananas said:
homosexuals and trans people aren't mutilating their body
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That depends on who you ask.
 
This reminds me of, for example, deaf parents who deny their children cochlear implants because they see deafness as part of their culture rather than a disability.

This new thing is taking it to a whole new level though since it's about creating a disability instead of 'accepting' an existing one.
 
Dryk said:
Guys these people aren't doing it for kicks, they actually do have a dysphoria the same as trans people do. We tried treating it in other ways, but the only way we've found that works is to help the brain inhabit the body it wants to.
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Maybe there isn't supposed to be treatment that can be offered? There are many sufferings in this world that shouldn't realistically have a cure or solution.
 
Mister Saturn said:
This sounds like a sketch premise, like something out of Mr. Show.

Part of me figures they can cut off their own limbs if they want, but another part feels that condoning this is insanely disrespectful to those who are physically disabled through no choice of their own.
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There was a real life place like this.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon,_Florida
The town gained infamy in the late 1950s and early 1960s due to the improbably high percentage of residents who put out insurance claims on lost limbs, to the point that many speculated that residents of the town were intentionally dismembering themselves for the insurance money. Although there is no real evidence to support these speculations, these insurance claims from Vernon, with a population of 500–800, accounted for as many as 2/3 of claims nationally. The town was referred to as "Nub City".[3]


Vernon was featured in the Errol Morris documentary film Vernon, Florida (produced in 1981) highlighting the eccentricities of the people who lived there. The movie angered many residents of the city and surrounding areas who felt the documentary portrayed Vernon in a negative light. Morris had originally intended to document on the "Nub City" aspect of the town, but re-focused his subject after claiming to receive death threats from residents
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Newspaper article from 2007.


Of course these people did it for insurance money. They didn't have the fetishes or the "alien limb" syndrome the people this thread is about.
 
If they can still work and not live on welfare for the rest of their lives, more power to them. It does seem slightly insulting for the people who actually had their old lives shattered by severe accidents though.
 
I.... why? I guess if you want to cut your own hand off, or sit in a wheelchair of your own free will, be my guest. It's your body, you can do what you want with your own body. But I have very hard time understanding why.

--edit
These people can sit in wheelchairs all they want, but in my eyes they lose the right to complain about how they can't climb up the stairs (or other similar physical activities). You can climb up the stairs, you choose not to. They should not be eligible for disability benefits.
 
I don't know what I don't know. Hard to comment. I'm in the self harm or mental illness camp.

The transgender comparison doesn't apply here. Gender identity conflicting with biological sex makes sense. The state of mind with gender identity isn't a mental illness. A guy has a sense of being a man, a gal has a sense of being a woman, or a person might be unsure. All of these sense of being are valid regardless of biological sex.

Is there a healthy state of mind associated with being disabled (an identity, a sense of being) that's different from being able-bodied? A disabled person being aware of their actual physical disability isn't an identity.
 
Cut off what you want, but be sure never to apply to the same benefits as disabled people. The social support system for actual disabled people is already stressed enough.
 
cameron said:
Is there a healthy state of mind associated with being disabled (an identity, a sense of being) that's different from being able-bodied? A disabled person being aware of their actual physical disability isn't an identity.
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I don't know, but it reminds me of deaf people having their own culture, some even refusing cochlear implants. I have to admit I always thought it was silly to voluntarily not be able to hear.
 
Quite sad, should be given all the help they can but . Hopefully there is treatment available short of physical alterations/loss of limbs or mobility though. It would be awful to life with this feeling.
cameron said:
I don't know what I don't know. Hard to comment. I'm in the self harm or mental illness camp.

The transgender comparison doesn't apply here. Gender identity conflicting with biological sex makes sense. The state of mind with gender identity isn't a mental illness. A guy has a sense of being a man, a gal has a sense of being a woman, or a person might be unsure. All of these sense of being are valid regardless of biological sex.

Is there a healthy state of mind associated with being disabled (an identity, a sense of being) that's different from being able-bodied? A disabled person being aware of their actual physical disability isn't an identity.
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Eh the comparison is valid whether or not its politically correct. Saying that having a sense that your body isn't how it should be is OK in one aspect but not another is hypocritical. Most people would consider healthy to be comfortable with who you are by default. That doesn't mean that its not a good thing to accommodate peoples wishes & identity though.
 
cameron said:
The transgender comparison doesn't apply here. Gender identity conflicting with biological sex makes sense. The state of mind with gender identity isn't a mental illness. A guy has a sense of being a man, a gal has a sense of being a woman, or a person might be unsure. All of these sense of being are valid regardless of biological sex.

Is there a healthy state of mind associated with being disabled (an identity, a sense of being) that's different from being able-bodied? A disabled person being aware of their actual physical disability isn't an identity.
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There are large sections of the brain dedicated to figuring out where the body is in 3D space that we currently don't understand very well. There is actually also a condition where healthy people have extraneous phantom limbs. Phantom limbs in general are more real than you'd expect, you can actually see activity in the brain corresponding to a person touching themselves in a certain location with an arm they no longer have.
 
Shuggananas said:
homosexuals and trans people aren't mutilating their body
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I am not sure how you have to read my post to feel that this is what I was saying?

what I am saying is that just shrug this off as a "mental illness" is wrong if there is truth to the neurological claims
 
Dryk said:
There are large sections of the brain dedicated to figuring out where the body is in 3D space that we currently don't understand very well. There is actually also a condition where healthy people have extraneous phantom limbs.
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I await for the day when we can graft extra cyber limbs to our bodies.
 
jakonovski said:
I await for the day when we can graft extra cyber limbs to our bodies.
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You might not be able to control them properly if your brain doesn't already think they're there. I guess you could always have them copy your original arms though.
 
Melkr_ said:
This kind of reminded me of a debate I was having the other day with a dude who intentionally got infected with HIV.

I mean, do whatever you want with your health, body, mind buuut, it is hard not to be judge mental when such self affirmative campaign implies or requires self destruction.
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Why does this bring memories of that south park episode.
 
I think I should be blind, but not in the transability sense. More as a punishment/comfort zone thing. I'd have much less inhibitions without vision.
 
maquiladora said:
Only a few decades ago people would have said the same and transgender people, hell there are still people who say that now.

Just because something is unfamiliar to us or seems "weird" we shouldn't rush to label it as an illness....
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This is not the same at all.
 
maquiladora said:
Only a few decades ago people would have said the same and transgender people, hell there are still people who say that now.

Just because something is unfamiliar to us or seems "weird" we shouldn't rush to label it as an illness....
Click to expand...

^ This. I'm weirded out by the idea, but I'll try not to be as dismissive of it as a lot of people here. It seems pretty complicated with the legal and personal issues involved though. If someone wants to remove / damage parts of their body, it's not like a partner can be forced to take care of them, or a SO / family could feel trapped and have to give up some of their life to take care of them.
 
Honey Bunny said:
Makes me feel sick. There are disabled people who would give everything to have what these people have.
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Amen. Should be illegal no matter what.

There was a guy over here who got a partner in crime to try and cut his leg off with a chainsaw to cheat the insurance company. He died.
 
Dryk said:
There are large sections of the brain dedicated to figuring out where the body is in 3D space that we currently don't understand very well. There is actually also a condition where healthy people have extraneous phantom limbs. Phantom limbs in general are more real than you'd expect, you can actually see activity in the brain corresponding to a person touching themselves in a certain location with an arm they no longer have.
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Interesting read
Body Snatchers, Phantom Limbs, and Alien Hands
 
What if they were disabled in a past life?









WHAT. IF?





/s

Joni said:
Cut off what you want, but be sure never to apply to the same benefits as disabled people. The social support system for actual disabled people is already stressed enough.
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I kind of agree with this. When I first clicked the thread I actually thought people were doing it to claim benefits.
 
I've met a lot of disabled people, my dad is an orthopedic surgeon and prosthetist, I've met a lot of his patients growing up from very, very poor folks that worked on farms and lost limbs to an accident (he did work in Africa), middle-class people to very rich people losing limbs or whatever in an accident, some being born without limbs, etc.

I've heard their stories and how they cope, things I've always heard is how their disability doesn't define them. I don't understand how you can identify as being disabled when nobody who has been disabled outside their will has ever felt that this is defining of their identity and "right".

I think this is a symptom of a much larger problem, issues with depression, anxiety and this is an excuse for acquiring a sense of sympathy/recognition/pity to satisfy some larger issue.
 
I always have difficulty putting myself in the position of people like this. I can understand a neurological condition where your limp doesn't feel like your own, like there is some appendage attached to your body that is not your own. I can imagine that is kinda shitty.

However, if I didn't have my own legs but somehow some weird alien tentacle like things attached to my hip that allowed me to move around perfectly I sure as hell would not cut them off because being in a wheelchair seems like a worse fate.

Having arms and legs is really kinda useful, even if 'they are not your own'.
 
I can understand trying what's it's like to suffer a handicap in order to better understand those unfortunate who actually suffer. But to actually will it upon oneself is straight up crazy.

As mentioned earlier, it's totally a Mr Show act.
 
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