Written by: Dominick at 7:10 pm
When I first wrote about Devotees, Pretenders and Wannabes on the Literary Illusions opinion site I was reacting on my first impulses and instincts. At the time, I was utterly disgusted by those who would lie about who they were in such a harmful way that they desired to become disabled. The life of a person with a disability seemed glamorous to them.
That’s pretty offensive to someone who has a disability. Furthermore, I was highly disturbed by Devotees, Wannabes and Pretenders trying to compare themselves to the transgendered community. I’m both disabled and transgendered. I feel I have a unique perspective on the situation and how it feels to be compared to these incomprehensible human beings who think being disabled is the “cool” way to go.
Upon receiving a URL to a Newsweek article on the topic, I learned that doctors have a name for this. It’s called Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID). While those who say they suffer from BIID claim they are “transabled” there are a number of reasons why I feel they should not be compared to someone who is transgendered. To better understand this you have to understand what being transgendered is and means.
Transgendered people believe they were born in the wrong gender. It is a persistent feeling that won’t go away. Studies are showing that perhaps while in utero, the fetus is exposed to varying levels of hormones. For example, since I am FTM, it’s fairly likely that I was exposed to extra levels of testosterone making my brain form in a more masculine way. There are truly signs of transgenderism, especially from an early age. Looking back, I was constantly called a little boy by strangers who saw me as a baby and toddler. Even in the womb, the ob/gyn my mother saw was certain I would be born a boy, based on how I was carried and other factors. She’d been in the field for years and I was one of her biggest shocks when I was born biologically female.
Transgenderism is deemed a “mental disorder” by the DSM, something many people do not feel accurately describes being transgendered. For all intents and purposes, transgendered people are proud of who they are. They aren’t mentally deranged. In fact, to be given treatment for transgenderism, those who are transgendered must be deemed sane. They know who they are and what they’re supposed to be. There is no shame in that and there shouldn’t really be any flip flopping on the decision. At the present time, at least one doctor is trying to get the DSM to consider BIID a mental disorder comparable to transgenderism.
Why I don’t feel it is comparable deals in part with the shame those with BIID have. They know what they want is wrong. Even if they successfully amputate or paralyze themselves they are too ashamed to say how it happened. They know that what they did was wrong and they obviously have a skewed take on reality. This doesn’t mean they are insane or can’t interact with others. This just means they think hacking off body parts is okay. Transgendered individuals may not share who they are with everyone, but they know who they are inside. There is no question of whether transitioning (in all its forms) is right or wrong.
Transgendered transition isn’t hurting anyone. Taking hormones isn’t going to damage a body the way hacking a leg off with a saw is. Those with BIID seem more comparable to those who are cutters. Mutilation of the body by cutters relieves stress and makes the cutter feel whole. Those with BIID who have amputated their body parts or paralyzed themselves say this destruction of their body parts has made them feel whole. Transgendered people may surgically change their body, but I’ve not heard of an FTM hacking off a tit with a hacksaw to become whole. If they are, then they have mental problems beyond what they believe is transgenderism and they probably aren’t really trans at all. While transgendered individuals have plastic surgery, BIID sufferers mutilate themselves. That’s a major difference.
BIID doesn’t just hurt the patient. It hurts their family, friends, and society. Being disabled is expensive. Believe me. I know firsthand. Wheelchairs cost thousands of dollars. Equipment needed for transferring, going to the bathroom, etc., making a house accessible and medical bills to treat a disability are all major expenses. If a person with BIID has a physically intensive job they might not be able to work. Some may even lose their jobs. As a disabled person (now that they’ve made themselves one), they qualify for government assistance. They may even get workers comp/disability insurance depending on their job.
Government assistance is assistance that those born with their disabilities have trouble getting. Adding more people who never should have been disabled to begin with to a waning fund means those born with or those who became disabled through a means out of their control have to contend with those who have BIID for much needed services. As a taxpayer do you really want to pay to care for someone with BIID for the rest of their lives?
Things like:
-Family members having to care for the disabled individual for the rest of their life (which may mean the family member is unable to work)
-Paralyzed individuals having to deal with a slew of health problems including the constant threat of pressure sores, which leads to higher medical bills
-The need for extra medical equipment if something goes wrong during amputation/paralysis
-The use of catheters and other excretory devices for paralyzed individuals to go to the bathroom
These are all things that BIID sufferers may not even realize they have to deal with when they make themselves disabled. I have many friends who are paralyzed, both quads and paras. They were more prone to illness and infection. They had to constantly watch out for pressure sores from sitting all the time (this is common for wheelchair users). Joints could lock up, feet could turn in, fingers could tighten to the point of nearly being unable to use them, and bracing was necessary for many of them. Nearly every friend I had who was paralyzed used a catheter. Some of them could take care of themselves, but others needed assistance. This assistance was either paid out of pocket or by the government.
Once a transgendered person is finished transitioning (of which they PAY FOR themselves) there is no worry of the need for governmental assistance. They have fully become the man or woman they’ve always seen themselves as and unless they have an unreliable doctor, they may not need additional medical care, save for continued checkups to ensure hormone levels are stable. With BIID this could mean lifelong commitments to a doctor for this and that, which occurred as a result of the amputation or paralysis. It’s also not nearly as offensive to society to be transgendered.
You see, these people with BIID should be LUCKY they have working limbs. Every day, those of us with disabilities wish we could climb up stairs. We wish we could buy a house without having to remodel it to make it accessible spending much more money than the average person would have to spend, to move. We wish we could take a bath or shower ourselves if we can’t. Some of us wish we could get into the bathroom period. Inaccessible housing really stinks. We hope one day we’ll be able to stand up and truly give that loved one of ours a strong hug. Our arms aren’t always strong enough to wrap around that special someone tightly while sitting down.
As someone in a wheelchair, I’d give anything to stand up and walk over to get that item just out of reach. I’d love to just get out of bed and go to the bathroom. It’s such a hassle to have to wait for someone to pull down my pants and put me on the toilet. I’d love to be able to get in and out of a pool. That means I’d get to swim when I went on vacation, something I usually cannot do because pools aren’t usually wheelchair accessible. Eating can be hard if you don’t have hands or don’t have hands that work. Having others feed you can be messy. There are so many things that these BIID individuals are overlooking.
I think one of the doctors who helps to determine DSM inclusion said it best when he said (according to Newsweek), “if amputee-identification really stemmed from the brain, there would be other symptoms beyond just the desire to amputate—it would be difficult to use the leg, for example, or there would be signs of neglect.”
Dr. Ray Blanchard, a professor at the University of Toronto goes on to say, “And I can’t see medicine accepting it. Medicine is going to see it as conferring a disability on a patient. In that sense it’s different from sex-reassignment surgery. Being a man or woman is not a disability.”
That truly is the main difference. Accepting BIID as a true blue disorder is validating a delusion, while allowing sex-reassignment can be seen as truly righting a wrong or what some transgendered individuals consider to be a birth defect. There is no delusion in transgenderism, and that’s just how it is.
Technorati Tags: BIID, Body Integrity Identity Disorder, Disabled, Disability, transgendered, Wannabes, Pretenders, Devotees, transabled
Filed under: Disability Rights,Transgenderism
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You know, my first instinct upon reading this was to comment in order to say that being transgendered and being transabled (I’m not sure how I feel about using that word, but I’ll use it for the sake of reference) are different because gender is a naturally occurring difference in humans but disabilities are, almost by definition, due to a malfunction of some bodily system. As a disclaimer, I don’t mean to suggest disabled people are less than normal, etc. I’m sure you understand what I mean.
However, as I sat here thinking about it, I had a hard time phrasing that, and usually that means I’m not sure if I agree with it. I feel the passion of your post here, and my reaction is to agree, but on further reflection I find it hard to support the position. I’ve recently (within the last year) become involved with a MTF trans-girl, and while just our relationship is amazing, being involved with her and getting to know her perspective on the world and on gender specifically has been eye-opening to say the least. She had GRS about a year and a half ago now, and has been living as a female for… a few years I believe.
The major change has been that I’ve ceased to see gender as a black/white sort of thing. It has shades of gray, much like everything else in life. Males are not equally masculine, females are not equally feminine, and even the form/structure/size of our sex organs differs from person to person. Similarly, the size/shape/form/functionality of all other parts of our bodies differ, and to say that having smaller, non-existent, or non-functioning arms or legs is necessarily ‘unnatural’ seems very unfair. It is one end of the possible spectrum of size/functionality. While it is certainly more difficult, and I hope it’s clear that I’m not trying to downplay the hurdles faced by disabled people, my point is just that objectively those disabilities can be seen as being one end of a spectrum of size/functionality of parts of the body, yes?
So to say that someone might feel they were meant to be born with no limbs or non-functioning limbs… well… for a person born with no legs to feel like they’re meant to have them is much the same thing, yeah?
I guess I take the viewpoint that people being whoever they are is never INHERENTLY wrong, unless they’re hurting others. I read your post about devotees/fakers/wannabes, and I understand where you’re coming from – it’s definitely wrong for someone to get involved, and even get married to, someone with a disability just b/c of the disability rather than the PERSON… but the flaw there isn’t their attraction to the disability, it’s that they’d react to it in that way. But I am sure there could be devotees who are both attracted to the crutches/cane/wheelchair, AND the person, right? It can’t be the case that being a devotee is mutually exclusive with being able to fall in love.
So the flaw, to me, seems to be in how those people deal with their fetishes, not with the fetish itself. It’s like anything else – being open and honest is most important, and people only stand to be hurt if someone is lying to someone else for their own gain, whether it be sexual gratification or otherwise.
Interesting take on disabilities, but I have to disagree. For some, disability is due to a gene mutation. My disability, in particular, is caused by this. This means the gene variation is, for lack of better words, “abnormal”.
Others become disabled by way of accident (whether at birth or later in life). This means that these individuals had the makeup of someone who was born with all working limbs and something happened either during birth or later in life to force a disability upon these people.
With that in mind, is disability natural? Yes, and no. In the natural order,there is gene mutation to make someone disabled. Still this gene variation isn’t on par with the average human body makeup. Accidents are just bad luck. For all intents and purposes, these people were born with the average human body makeup and due to unlucky circumstances became disabled.
Looking at it from the perspective that people say they want to become disabled, they want to become what society would deem “abnormal” from scientific standards.
The person with the amputated leg who feels he has his leg probably feels that because at one point “he did” have his leg. There is no reason for people to feel like they shouldn’t have their limbs. This “disorder” is masking some other mental deficiency that hasn’t been treated in these individuals.
I find it ironic that you would make such an argument. First of all, it’s not BIID sufferers who compare themselves to trangendered persons (some BIID sufferers actually find the comparison quite revolting, fyi) but those psych professionals who have studied both diorders.
Likewise, I think it’s quite telling that while you’d like to demand social sensitivity for those like you who believe that your body is a betrayal of your inner self and, therefore, you should have an inalienable right to mutilate what God gave you, you seek to marginalize others whose personal experiences of self are really not that different from your own.
Do the word “pot,” “kettle” and “black” mean anything to you????
I’ve heard of rabid bigotry in the GLBT community, but you take the cake!
Oh boy! I knew it was only a matter of time before “God” was brought into this. I’d have to believe in God to be “grateful” for what God supposedly gave me. Contrary to popular belief “Georgina”, not all of us in the world are Christians. I’m a happy polytheist with no belief in a God making me in “his image”.
Seriously, how is putting on a diaper, going “potty in it”, getting a hard on from it, getting into a wheelchair a person doesn’t need, deceiving everyone around them by wheeling into public and pretending to really be disabled (even coming up with elaborate “I had an accident” stories) similar to being transgendered?
The difference is, I don’t wake up and lie to anyone. I don’t get “sexually aroused” from being transgendered. I am who I am, no qualms about it. Furthermore, I don’t believe having SRS is mutilation. Hacking off a body part is far more mutilating than any type of cosmetic surgery.
Why is it bigotry that I don’t “agree” that cutting off a limb or paralyzing yourself is the answer? I feel people with BIID have serious mental problems. They need help. I don’t believe cutting off limbs is the answer to their problems. I guess if that makes me a bigot then so be it.
Upon reading many cases of those with BIID, I’ve realized many of them have:
-been abused in some form (sexually, physically, mentally, emotionally)
-have an alcoholic or drug addicted parent
-have at least one overbearing parent
-have self-confidence issues
-don’t have a lot of friends or tend to be loners overall, though often not by choice
What I see when I see people with BIID is people crying out for attention. They begin to obsess about hacking off a body part because they want to be different. They want to stand out. They want to be noticed. Read ANY story about someone who claims to have BIID. The first time they go out in a wheelchair, pretending, they MUST interact with people. They must be noticed and have people stare at them in their chair. They simply have to or otherwise, the experience is more of a let down then they hoped.
Having BIID is nothing like being transgendered. My brain is similar if not identical to that of a male. I don’t transition for attention. I don’t want people to notice I’ve changed. I don’t want to stand out. I’m not doing it to justify anything. The only, very minor comparison is not even a comparison.
Psychologists say its comparative because those with gender dysphoria see ourselves as the opposite gender from our birth gender and the BIID community sees itself as wanting to be disabled.
Why this isn’t a comparison is because those who are transgendered don’t just see themselves as the opposite gender. I don’t see myself as male. I AM Male. There is no question in my mind. People with BIID can’t say that. They just want to be disabled so bad, they’ll tell lies, deceive and hide their true identity until they get the balls to chop their own leg off or make themselves paralyzed.
[...] But to many people who are disabled… like, for real for real disabled, and especially those disabled folks who are transgender, this notion is repugnant. [...]
[...] another rant on BIID, per se. For my thoughts on BIID (Body Integrity Identity Disorder), read here, or here, and finally here. If you don’t know what BIID is or even why I’m writing [...]
Hello; I’m 58ys MtF and have difficulty with my legs/feet since an accidentand muted/ultra soft voice. Part time employed and live in an area that has little to limited mass transit here in Delaware. On my vacation I’m going to Baltimore Md on crutches or a wheeelchair. Do you or any of your readers have any advice for me. Thank You josie
Given my ablebodied privilege as someone normatively mobile, I want to respect your insight and perspective as a wheelchair user. However, as an autistic genderqueer, and thus, a fellow disabled transgendered person, I would like to plea with you to please, please, please, break the kyriarchy. Transabled people are marginalized within our community of disabled people. We need not disown them; we need to be their allies, just as we would have them be ours. And for the record, being transgender in our society functions as a disability. The way you talk about transgenderism is also highly reductionistic and heteronormative, and leaves out the experiences of a lot of transgendered folks.
Philoexica – I implore you to read the thoughts of many of the people who claim they suffer from BIID. They have the nerve to say they get turned on (have erections) from anything relating to being disabled, and then say they are just like the transgendered community. I would HOPE that those in the trans community are not attempting to transition because it turns them on. BIID appears to be a fetish and a dangerous one at that. I will say that, while I do not personally have most fetishes, I am tolerant of (most of) the fetishes of others. Hey, if it turns you on and it is NOT harmful to yourself or others, then go for it.
Of course, I make exceptions for things like fetishes involving non-consenting parties (i.e. rape), children (molestation), and BIID merely because some are willing to go as far as to mutilate their own bodies (getting into car accidents to attempt to sever their spines or pouring acid/putting dry on their flesh to destroy their legs) in painful and potentially fatal ways.
My problem is they say their problem is LIKE MINE. I am not turned on by being transgendered. It is JUST HOW I AM. Some aspects of the BIID fetish, are harmless. For example, one of the prominent BIID activists talks about how he gets erections while wearing diapers. It is up to the individual to do their own thing. If you wanna wear diapers and change yourself…GO FOR IT. It’s not my business. Even the people who rent wheelchairs to ride around in them and then say they masturbate after doing so. It’s kind of weird IMO, but it technically isn’t hurting anyone. You and the others seem to imply I am not tolerant of these acts, which isn’t true at all. I don’t get them nor do I want to, but it is the BIID person’s sex life and far be it from me to deny them some sexual happiness. With these acts, they aren’t harming themselves or others. That’s fine. Enjoy your fetish.
My big problem is this. Do NOT compare a fetish to a biological condition like transsexuality and attempt to get doctors to make you disabled. A fetish is NOT the same as a biological condition, and therefore it should not be treated as such. Don’t tell me BIID isn’t a fetish either, because the people claiming to suffer from BIID have shared their thoughts in their blogs. I have seen many a BIID suffer talk about how horny they get from using catheters, binding their legs to make them immobilized and wheeling around an area where no one knows them. One woman even said she got so turned on after a stranger helped her up a curb in her wheelchair she rented that she had to wheel back to her car and masturbate. It made her nearly orgasm at the person’s assistance. These people do not want to admit it is a fetish. They want to claim it is like transsexuality and their brain developed differently. Therefore, their only treatment is for doctors to make them disabled. THIS is my problem with BIID. You cannot compare apples and oranges and say they are the same. If it makes me sound like an ass, then I guess it is how I sound, but at least I am honest in my thoughts on this matter.
I appreciate your response, Dominick. I agree that when fetishizing disability acts as a way of Othering disabled people, it is extremely problematic. If reading these accounts was hurtful to you, I wish to affirm that your hurt is valid. It is important, moreover, that sexual persons recognize and are accountable for the privileges they have in being attracted or not attracted to certain kinds of bodies.
My own body has been subject to fetishizing as that of a genderqueer person, and so I realize within my own scope of experience that being sexually objectified for something in which one is marginalized can create a space of discomfort. For many transgender and disabled people, it’s unfortunate that sometimes the only choices availed to us are invisibility and the-wrong-kind-of visibility.
This said, I want to point out two assumptions that you make, and with which I disagree:
(1) All experiences of transabled people are the same in that they are necessarily fetishistic, and those who say otherwise are lying.
(2) For those whose desire to attain a ‘normative’ disability status has a sexual aspect, that aspect comprises the totality of their experience.
Also, speaking as a normatively male-bodied femme person, I think you are privileged not to consider how fetishism is often read into many female/feminine-oriented transgender experiences. It says a lot that, of all the myriad fetishes which exist in the world, so-called “transvestic fetishism” receives especial attention, it and its attendant stigma codified in a book of pathology, the DSM.
I am privileged in that my sexuality does not incur fetishistic stigma, but I am disprivileged in that I cannot shop at a women’s clothing stores without risking being read as a pervert. I hope you will consider how the assumptions of some of my fellow shoppers serve to invisibilize my identity as a transgendered person, and how your assumptions of transabled sexual deviancy, likewise, in their conflating the diverse experiences of a marginalized group, may serve a parallel function.
Philolexica,
Thanks for the response. I am not making assumptions. I am taking what transabled people write about themselves. I have yet to read an account of one who does not get fetish-ish pleasure out of their pretending to be disabled. All the accounts I have read of those who have made themselves disabled has been regret. Their desires do not go away and the true reality of being disabled is disappointing. For many, it is devastating and should have been prevented! I can only go off what these people say about themselves. I do not have their desires.
I do not view transvestites the same as transsexuals. Not that I am saying either is better than the other. Transvestites derive pleasure from dressing in the opposite gender. They fully admit to it being a fetish. I have never felt my transsexuality was a fetish in any way. Ever.
Dominick,
Yes, I realize they’re not the same, but the identities and experiences of a cross-dresser and a transgendered person who does not “pass” are not delineated by society; they’re conflated. The gender transgressions of both persons are policed under the same heteronormative logic, a logic that denies the authenticity of both of their existences.
A point that needs to be made very clearly: there are plenty of cross-dressers who experience drag as having nothing to do with any kind of fetish or sex, period. This is a common misconception, and it’s an important one to correct. That you are not taking care to distinguish the variety of motives people have for being cross-dressers makes me worry that your readings into transabled accounts may be similarly selective.
First-hand accounts of transablism that (a) involve more than a fetishistic component and (b) have been actualized through amputation with positive psychological effect are accessible on the Internet. There are some especially compelling accounts documented in a documentary called “Whole” that I have only seen excerpts of, but which seems important. I think I’m going to order a copy. Once I’m done watching it, I would be happy to send it along. Not sure if it has subtitles.
Dominick, I’m so glad to have come across this article. I agree with everything you have stated, and think that the so-called “transabled” movement is deeply disturbing.
I am glad to know you agree. I am not trying to tell anyone how to live their lives. I just do not want them taking away resources from those who choose not to be disabled. I also do not want them to compare themselves to those in the transgendered community, because that makes it harder on transgendered people to gain acceptance in an already condemning society. People are beginning to understand the differences in the development of the structure of the brain, which is believed to cause transgenderism. However, they will never understand the desire to want to chop off your own legs, deafen yourself, blind yourself or making yourself impaired in some other physical way. There are no similarities between the two groups.
I’ll keep this simple. IMO, BIID = Münchausen syndrome. It is in no way, shape or form the same as being transgendered.
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A transabled person has a symptom of psychiatric pathology in that they seek to harm themselves. A person that seeks biologically unnecessary amputation is presenting symptoms of factitious disorder (300.19 DSM IV). Factitious disorder is often a symptom of an underlying personality disorder, frequently Borderline Personality Disorder. So most likely the “transabled” person does indeed posses a disability but not the one they desire.
The transgender community is very diverse and only a fraction of those (10% I believe) actually progress to GRS. Many of us choose not to have surgery for a variety of reasons yet continue to live as women or men for our entire lives. Surgery is not required to join the club.
While GID is a psychiatric condition it is not considered disabling by the government and many clinicians. There is in fact a chance it will be removed from the DSM V as homosexuality was in 1973. There is also evidence that indicate TGs have altered brain structures and in uetro hormonal differences from cisgendered people.
I am both transgendered and disabled. My medical condition, End Stage Liver Disease, prevents me from doing many activities and causes me to structure my life in ways that accommodate my illness. My transsexualism does not. It is a very positive part of my life and has enhanced my overall wellness.