Desires For Disabilities As A Child

[curiositykilledthecat]

As a kid all I wanted was to not be beaten and to fit in. Really, who as a kid said "I want to be a freak?"

[d_drew12]

WOW did everyone miss the whole we are talking about children here NOT ADULTS... children do not have the same insight into disabilities and disorders and adults do, which is why children often yearn for something to make them different. It doesn't mean all kids want to be an amputee or something, it just means they see a classmate getting attention for having a cast on their leg and the child then wants a cast on their own leg.... children do not have the insight to think about the pain involved in breaking the leg in order to get the cast.... they just have a desire for the attention, and because the attention is as a result of a cast, they consciously say they want the cast...

geesh we are talking kids here... not adults......

OMG thank YOU!!! Boy these people are nuts sometimes. The story just seems to grow wings and take off in a different direction or something. I was also talking in my OP about mainly NON permanant things like casts, braces, etc. not lobing off ones arm or lighting ones self on fire!!!! Sheeesh!!! Like Sarah said, we're talking about when we were kids, and obviously the thought process wasn't all there, just what say, I saw as them getting special treatment and wanting a piece of the special treatment.

Anyone who's had stitches always wants to know how many so they can tell there friends and the higher the number, the cooler it sounded. I was somewhat excited when I got stitches but bummed when I only got 3. Boooo, how cool is 3? Johnny had 10, much cooler. You wanted as D_Rainger said to "prove your manliness".

Anyway, subjects come up like broken bones and even as adults, they'll tell you all about it and when it happened as it is often something you don't forget and it does come out someone braggy and people almost try and "one up" each other. It seems like the more bones you broke the tougher and harder you played and more risks you took. You didn't sit on the couch all day eating Doritos. I never broke a bone so I don't have those stories. In most ways, yeah, I'm glad I didn't and maybe I was such a "tough" kid that's why I never broke any bones but that's now how most people will se it. Also,it doesn't mean I didn't wish back when I was a kid and Joe blow shows up with his arm in a cast and everyones asking what happened and they all want to sign it getting all sorts of attention, I didn't wish that kid with the cast wasn't me and I probably wasn't the only who felt they wanted it to be them.

[PArms]

I used to daydream about being in the hospital and recovering from a drug overdose. While I was there, everyone finds out that I have a drug problem and my classmates come to visit me, including the girl of my dreams who cared for and fell in love with me. But of course, I knew that wasn't going to happen and that drugs are no good.

I think that most kids don't have too much difficulty in their lives and are just yearning for God to give out hardship so they don't feel guilty about life being too easy.

[PArms]

I used to daydream about being in the hospital and recovering from a drug overdose. While I was there, everyone finds out that I have a drug problem and my classmates come to visit me, including the girl of my dreams who cared for and fell in love with me. But of course, I knew that wasn't going to happen and that drugs are no good.

[WallaWalla]

Well, I have BIID but I don't want to amputate my left leg for the attention. It's because I, honestly, think that my soul would 'fit' better into my body without that extra... 'not me' thing dangling off my knee. (It barely works from nerve damage anyways.) I think of it as being almost on-par with how a transgendered person feels.

This analogy never really sat right with me on the basis that changing genders doesn't necessarily mean that you lose functions relevant to daily living. The other thing is that there are some pretty good theories baked up for how the etiologies behind many forms of transsexualism can be linked to natal cross-sex hormone levels. At the very least, all humans are some combination of male and female, even if the vast majority of humans have a distinct genotype, nearly every phenotype falls into a graduated spectrum between the two polarities set forward.

Speaking as somebody with some pretty intense invalidity fantasies and as post-op MtF transsexual who's been living full-time for five years. I'm very much into pretending, but I honestly can't imagine how anyone can try to draw the condition as analogous to transsexualism. In fact, it sounds very much like the kind of mockery that somebody who was attacking transsexualism would conjure up(e.g. the episode of southpark where everybody thinks they are a black/a dolphin/etc 'on the inside.'

Then again, I have to admit that I find the idea that one's very soul(assuming one exists at all) can be disabled to be terribly offensive from a philosophical standpoint(not a personal one mind you, heck I wouldn't mind knowing more pretenders IRL, even if they do consider it something more than pretending). I mean, as far as the whole 'not me' part goes, pretty much everybody who ascribes to a mind-body dualism looks at their whole body and says 'not me.' I mean heck, there are people who want to look prettier, wish they didn't have love handles, hate their stretch marks, so on and so forth.

I mean heck, why does it have to be about a 'soul thing' at all? I mean, if you just plain want to cut your left leg off for whatever reason imaginable, more power to you.

And to be clear, I think that the whole 'x trapped in y body' is a load of malarky coming from transsexuals as well. The actual situation is a lot more complex and that's more or less an over simplified tagline that many put out there in hopes that other people will find it to be a better justification than 'I want to do it and I've wanted to for my whole damned life, so piss off.'

[diaperbrownie]

I've desired to be female since I was born, or as long as I can remember.

But that's probably not relevant here so nevermind.

[Nat]

I remember I wanted to wear a cast on my arm because I thought it be cool to have other kids write on it. I also wanted a wheelchair because I thought it be fun to ride in and I wanted crutches because they were fun to use, same as walkers.

But I didn't understand kids who used them had a disability and their legs didn't work so they were limited what they can do. I didn't understand it was not a choice and you can't just decide to not use one just so you can go swimming or do PE or play on the monkey bars. It doesn't work that way.

I bet this is pretty normal for lot of children because they do not understand disabilities. Instead they see the wheelchair or the crutches or walker or casts and think it's cool to have one and wished they had one.

And kids who be special needs but get certain accommodations, I also wished I got the same as them but I didn't understand they had a disability. I just thought they got it because they were them and wished I got the same. I remember this boy wearing a helmet and I thought it was cool but I didn't realize it was a medical need and he maybe had seizures or did head banging so he wore one.

Then when I was 12 I wished I wore diapers and envied people in wheelchairs who wore them and old people. I remember thinking how lucky they were, even if it meant they were more limited. All I cared about was the diapers then.

But I never tried breaking my arm or anything or faking anything to get crutches or be in a wheelchair.

[Ryan23A]

Well I do have have passing fancies that someday that I would fall off my bicycle and get hurt somewhat. Though the pain that I would be thinking about would not be as bad as if it really happened. Though that was just me thinking of something just to pass the day a little faster.

Now for me when I was younger I did not have really anything bad happen to me. Though I had fun with crutches as it was a for the sake of being fun. Even when I saw another guy in a wheel chair with a broken leg it just made me think for a bit without much thought. With that all I did not want any thing bad happen to me.

To top all this all off I do not want to get in a accident bad enough to put me in the hospital at all, though maybe just a slight bruise would be nice for the worse.

[babykeiff]

It is totally natural for a child to seek attention, the type of attention that s/he thinks is available from being injured / disabled etc. However, it is only the attention rather than the injury that the child is seeking in most cases. The injury / disability is always worse than imagined for a young mind, and I know that there are many here that have endured some injury during school term, and although some benefits came from it, the disadvantages and losses that you realize now as an adult, is what you didn't want.

As a child, it is a very confusing time - too young to be let do something on your own, yet old enough to know better and therefore get the blame for it! It reminds me of a Star-Trek episode where Data was talking to a 12 year old child. Data relies on the fact that, as an android, his dimensions are exactly the same, and don't change. He queried how does the child manage to move around since every day he is either growing or shrinking.

Life as a constantly changing human is difficult, since we all have to constantly adapt to each situation. Yes, at times it is nice to fantasize, but then the next bill comes in the door, which takes me back to the sad reality of the situation.

[Bettypooh]

Perhaps children in general do think about this as a way of getting attention, but most of us quickly realize that being less able is no fun at all Especially those who have a less able friend who tells you in detail what they're missing in life Perhaps this point is where we begin to learn compassion

Bettypooh

[Goerge]

I've been preoccupied with thoughts of being mentally disabled since I was a small child.

[:dlb]

I've been preoccupied with thoughts of being mentally disabled since I was a small child.

Goerge you are mentally disabled..

[peelover]

I would just like to say that this thread is highly insulting. I have a friend with a real disability and it sucks for her. She is out of school a lot and I miss her a lot.

[Codymoogle]

I would just like to say that this thread is highly insulting. I have a friend with a real disability and it sucks for her. She is out of school a lot and I miss her a lot.

My vote is that this thread does not equal insulting. It's just discussion. Of course, that's just my $0.02.

Sidenote: I'm physically disabled.

~ moogle

[sarah_ab]

seriously? insulting? hello i was born with a neurological movement disorder, I've had symptoms of it all my life, and unfortunately was not one of hte lucky 90% for whom the symptoms dissipate by the end of puberty, but instead mine got worse....

i participated, and admited as a child to sometimes wishing i wore a cast, or was on crutches, or wore glasses etc.... insulting how?

ohhhhh i have loads of people in my life who are disabled some severely, some only mildly... nope... still not insulted by this thread.

sometimes, people need to learn to not take everything so personally in life...

[Lanthey]

sometimes, people need to learn to not take everything so personally in life...

Agreeed!!

[sarah_ab]

Agreeed!!

and what were you implying by that? are you trying to pick a fight with me? i take offense to that comment!!

[Lanthey]

and what were you implying by that? are you trying to pick a fight with me? i take offense to that comment!!

Bring it......

[sarah_ab]

seriously lanthey, you just need to lighten up... you seriousness and your holier than everyone attitude is just getting on my nerves

(YAY FOR A THREAD HIJACK!!!)

[Lanthey]

OMG!!!!1111oneoneone I cnt believe u just sed dat!!!!!!!11111oneoneone

U DNT HAV 2 BE SO OFFENSIVE U NO!!!!!!!!1111ONE

I'M REPORTING YOU!!!!!!1111

[sarah_ab]

yeah fine go ahead and report me.... what you who have only been a member here for like 9 months... ohhh i'm sooo scared of the nooobie!!!!

[Lanthey]

Oh go and pee in your diaper!!! So gross!! I can't believe you like DIAPERS!!! EWWWW

( I feel mean.... )

[sarah_ab]

ha you are just jealous because i am comfortable with my sexuality....

[Lanthey]

<----------- Sarah

[sarah_ab]

OH MY GOD I SOOO USED TO COLLECT THOSE!!!!!!!!!