'Transabled' people are cutting off their own limbs to become disabled in disturbing trend

(NaturalNews) Olympic champion Bruce Jenner's announcement to transition into a female has sparked a movement in which it is now considered trendy to reveal inner secretive desires to be something you're not, desires that before Jenner's coming out would've been considered completely outlandish and not taken seriously.

While state and local governments anxiously work to provide accommodations for transgender people, who constitute a mere 2 to 5 percent of the population, a new identity trend called "transability" is emerging.

People that are "transabled" feel like imposters in their physically working bodies, as they possess a strong desire to be disabled, according to a report by the National Post, a Toronto-based newspaper. Working arms and legs may sometimes feel unnatural, as people suffering from "transability" wish to be handicapped.

Some experience this peculiar desire so deeply that they attempt to physically injure themselves in a way that causes lifelong disabilities, satisfying their aspiration to be disabled.

"The person could want to become deaf, blind, amputee, paraplegic. It's a really, really strong desire"

Sounds completely insane, right? Scientists don't think so; in fact, researchers in Canada are dedicated to understanding "how transabled people think and feel." After interviewing 37 people worldwide who suffer from "transability," New Brunswick-based researcher Clive Baldwin found that most "transabled" people are men.

Half of the people interviewed live in Germany and Switzerland and crave "amputation or paralysis," according to Baldwin, a Canada Research Chair in Narrative Studies who teaches social work at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. One subject interviewed by Baldwin wants to have his penis removed, while another wishes to be blind.

Several cases have been documented where "transabled" people purposely hurt themselves in the hopes of requiring an amputation. One man, who has been referred to as "One Hand Jason," purposely cut off his right hand with a "very sharp power tool," allowing his close friends and family to believe it was an accident.

In an interview with the body modification website ModBlog, "One Hand Jason" describes how he spent months preparing to get rid of his right hand, attempting different means of cutting and crushing it in a way that wouldn't cause him to bleed to death. He even practiced on animal legs he obtained from the local butcher.

"My goal was to get the job done with no hope of reconstruction or re-attachment, and I wanted some method that I could actually bring myself to do," he said.

After successfully cutting off his hand, "Jason" says his body finally feels normal

"I feel like my body is correct at last, and that's a way cool feeling," he said. When asked if he would do anything differently if presented with a do-over, he answered, "No, it came off better than I ever imagined. "

"Jason" says he suffers from Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID), which occurs when the brain sees a certain limb as being unnatural or foreign. Baldwin sees the condition as a problem with the body's mapping, rather than a mental illness, and compares it with transgenderism.

While "transabled" people want to be acknowledged, understood and accepted by society, similar to the way American cultured has quickly embraced transgenderism, some doubt that that will happen.

"[Persons with disabilities] tend to see transabled people as dishonest people, people who try to steal resources from the community, people who would be disrespectful by denying or fetishizing or romanticizing disability reality," said Baril, a visiting scholar of feminist, gender and sexuality studies at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

Neither the transgender nor the disabled community accepts transabled people, as handicapped people feel a particular disdain towards anyone voluntarily removing a perfectly working limb.

Additional sources:

http://news.nationalpost.com

http://news.bme.com

http://www.biid.org

http://www.transgenderlaw.org^[PDF]