Sunni Man
Diamond Member
Becoming disabled by choice, not chance: āTransabledā people feel like impostors in their fully working bodies.
OTTAWA -- He had for months tried different means of cutting and crushing the limb that never quite felt like his own, training himself on first aid so he wouldnāt bleed to death, even practicing on animal parts sourced from a butcher.
His goal was to become disabled.
People like Jason have been classified as āātransabledāā ā feeling like imposters in their bodies, their arms and legs in full working order.
āWe define transability as the desire or the need for a person identified as able-bodied by other people to transform his or her body to obtain a physical impairment,ā says Alexandre Baril, a Quebec born academic who will present on ātransabilityā at this weekās Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Ottawa.
āThe person could want to become deaf, blind, amputee, paraplegic. Itās a really, really strong desire.ā
Many people, like Jason, arrange āaccidentsā to help achieve the goal. One dropped an incredibly heavy concrete block on his legs ā an attempt to injure himself so bad an amputation would be necessary. But doctors saved the leg. He limps, but itās not the disability he wanted.
āItās a problem for individuals because itās distressing. But lots of things are.ā He suggests this is just another form of body diversity ā like transgenderism ā and amputation may help someone achieve similar goals as someone who, say, undergoes cosmetic surgery to look more like who they believe their ideal selves to be.
Becoming disabled by choice not chance Transabled people feel like impostors in their fully working bodies National Post
OTTAWA -- He had for months tried different means of cutting and crushing the limb that never quite felt like his own, training himself on first aid so he wouldnāt bleed to death, even practicing on animal parts sourced from a butcher.
His goal was to become disabled.
People like Jason have been classified as āātransabledāā ā feeling like imposters in their bodies, their arms and legs in full working order.
āWe define transability as the desire or the need for a person identified as able-bodied by other people to transform his or her body to obtain a physical impairment,ā says Alexandre Baril, a Quebec born academic who will present on ātransabilityā at this weekās Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Ottawa.
āThe person could want to become deaf, blind, amputee, paraplegic. Itās a really, really strong desire.ā
Many people, like Jason, arrange āaccidentsā to help achieve the goal. One dropped an incredibly heavy concrete block on his legs ā an attempt to injure himself so bad an amputation would be necessary. But doctors saved the leg. He limps, but itās not the disability he wanted.
āItās a problem for individuals because itās distressing. But lots of things are.ā He suggests this is just another form of body diversity ā like transgenderism ā and amputation may help someone achieve similar goals as someone who, say, undergoes cosmetic surgery to look more like who they believe their ideal selves to be.
Becoming disabled by choice not chance Transabled people feel like impostors in their fully working bodies National Post
