A disability pretender is a subculture term meaning a person who behaves as if they were disabled. It may be classified as a type of factitious disorder or as a medical fetishism.

One theory[citation needed] is that pretenders may be the "missing link" between devotees and wannabes, demonstrating an assumed continuum between those merely attracted to people with disabilities and those who actively wish to become disabled. Many wannabes use pretending as a way to appease the intense emotional pain related to having body integrity identity disorder.

Pretending takes a variety of forms. Some chatroom users on internet sites catering to devotees have complained that chat counterparts they assumed were female were revealed as male devotees.[1] This form of pretending (where a devotee derives pleasure by pretending to be a disabled woman) may indicate a very broad predisposition to pretending among devotees.

Pretending includes dressing and acting in ways typical of disabled people, including making use of aids (glasses, hearing aids, braces, canes, inhalers, walking sticks, crutches, wheelchairs, mobility scooters, white canes etc.). Pretending may also take the form of a devotee persuading his or her sexual partner to play the role of a disabled person. Pretending may be practised in private, in intimacy, or in public, and may occupy surprisingly long periods. In the latter case, some pretenders hope that the disability may become permanent, such as through tissue necrosis caused by constricted blood supply.

People with this condition may refer to themselves as "transabled".[2][3][4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Chloe (April 18, 2013). "Pretence and Authenticity". transabled.org » Blogging about BIID. Archived from the original on 25 April 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  2. ^ Baril, Alexandre; Trevenen, Kathryn (14 April 2016). "Transabled women lost in translation? An introduction to: '"Extreme" transformations: (Re)Thinking solidarities among social movements through the case of voluntary disability acquisition'". Medicine Anthropology Theory. 3 (1): 136. doi:10.17157/mat.3.1.388.  
  3. ^ Shad (11 June 2015). "Desiring disability: What does it mean to be transabled?". CBC Radio. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  4. ^ Davis, Jenny L. (1 June 2014). "Morality Work among the Transabled". Deviant Behavior. 35 (6): 433–455. doi:10.1080/01639625.2014.855103. ISSN 0163-9625. S2CID 144412724.