Curiosity
Woman Wants To be Disabled Due To Rare Disorder
Woman Wants To be Disabled Due To Rare Disorder
A research scientist from Utah is living as a disabled person due to a rare medical disorder known as BIID or Body Integrity Identity Disorder.
58-year old Chloe Jennings-White has for years insisted that she is paralyzed from the waist down and that the legs attached to her body are not really her legs.
People afflicted with BIID do not accept one or several of their arms or legs and often seek to damage them severely enough so that they can be amputated in order for them to live as a disabled person.
Jennings-White of Salt Lake City began to keep her legs completely bandaged and insisted that she needed a wheelchair in order to get around.
Chloe first realised she was different at the age of four, after visiting her Aunt Olive, who was using leg braces after a bike accident.
“I wanted them too,” said Chloe. “I wondered why I wasn’t born needing them and felt something was wrong with me because I didn’t have them.”
At the age of nine, Chloe even took action, and pedalled her bike off a four-foot high acting stage on Hampstead Heath, landing on her neck.
“I only wanted to stop my legs working but could have broken my neck or died,” she said.
Although she is able to walk assisted by a cane, she chooses to go hiking with friends seated in a wheelchair.
“The chair gives me psychological relief, instead of physical, ” she added. “I know it can be difficult for people without BIID to understand, but it’s what we feel.”
Chloe enjoys the excitement of downhill skiing and the possibility she might fall and suffer serious leg fractures.
“I ski extremely fast, and aim for the most dangerous runs,” she said.
“Doing any activity that brings a chance of me becoming paraplegic gives me a sense of relief from the anxiety caused by the BIID.”
Many of her friends express concern that she will eventually succeed at doing something damaging to her legs so that her wish to live in a wheelchair can be fulfilled rather than simply pretending to be a disabled person due to her BIID disorder. She has chosen to live as though she were actually disabled despite the criticisms and threats she is subjected to from others.
According to Wikipedia, BIID is typically accompanied by the desire to amputate one or more healthy limbs to achieve that end. BIID can be associated with apotemnophilia, sexual arousal based on the image of one’s self as an amputee. The cause of BIID is unknown.
One theory states that the origin of BIID is that it is a neurological failing of the brain’s inner body mapping function (located in the right parietal lobe). According to this theory, the brain mapping does not incorporate the affected limb in its understanding of the body’s physical form.
Chloe writes for the BIID support group www.transabled.org and believes it is important to raise awareness about the condition.
Source:
Woman ‘wants to be disabled’ due to rare condition
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10185741/Woman-wants-to-be-disabled-due-to-rare-condition.html
Body integrity identity disorder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_integrity_identity_disorder
