Transableism.

[Marokai Backbeat]

So this is a thing I just discovered as real.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/becoming-disabled-by-choice-not-chance-transabled-people-feel-like-impostors-in-their-fully-working-bodies

I'm more interested in reading thoughts about this, particularly from certain posters, because I don't quite know what to make of this, personally.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

My immediate reaction to this is to take deep personal offense.

[Samantha]

My initial impression was that this was some ridiculous, offensive mental exercise attacking transgender people.

Anyhow, people have full ownership of their bodies and should be free to "modify" them however they want to.

[Ban my account ffs!]

My mom became disabled and eventually bed ridden before she finally died from said complications.

She wished every day she could have her mobility back.  I hope these weirdos do too.

I mean...what I want to say would be infracted.

[RI]

Isn't this the definition of body integrity identity disorder?

[Reluctant Republican]

I recall studying this in college and being struck with some similarities. It's a tough issue. As the article says, The folks who struggle with it seem not to want treatment. They often claim they know that the limb in question does not belong or feel right on their body. I seem to recall Doctor Vilayanur Ramachandran, a pioneer in dealing with phantom limps and pain, was able to use therapy with mirrors to sort of trick the brain into accepting the limb somewhat. It helped alleviate the discomfort of the sufferers. But even then, they still expressed  a desire to remove the limb.

It fascinates me, and is really a rather interesting ethical dilemma. I'm interested in some of the hostility towards this condition. Their seem to be enough people that suffer through it where it seems very real, though it is easy to conflate it with a fetish. It's probably  a touchy subject, given this seems rather insane to someone not suffering through it, and many of the people who do have it try to conflate it with Transsexualism(I hope that's the correct term) in general.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

One thing both theology and psychoanalysis should have taught us by now is that self-destructive urges are a common feature of human life. These people are not so strange for feeling this way, it is just one manifestation of a universal problem. A much, much larger portion of the population, I would bet, feels this urge in some sense, but manage somehow not to let it control them so much that they seek out amputation.  I worry about this idea that hacking off healthy limbs constitutes treatment, because it concedes all the power to the urge and the feeling of not-rightness, the exact opposite of what is prescribed in cognitive-behavioral treatment for OCD and other mental illness.

[TNF]

This is utter f**king insanity.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Looks like a psychological pathology to me. It should be treated, but certainly not encouraged.

[Zioneer]

Seems like an odd case of phantom limb (or the reverse, I guess) to me.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Neurologists have tentatively concluded there is a real and tangible difference between the brains of men and women, which can explain much of the symptoms we call "gender dysphoria". This is not a factor in people wishing they have only one arm.

I mean, pschyatrists should determine whether these people are best treated or whether it's best to allow them to go through with such a procedure, but it is a different kettle of fish...

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

These people are very clearly severely mentally ill. I get that anyone who is disabled or knows someone who is would be incredibly offended by this, but these people need help.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Are we going to siphon off every peculiarity into an "ism" that has its own rights and interests? It seems that every mental illness wants to be a demographic, and every strange characteristic wants to be a mental illness.

I mean, a compulsion to chop off your leg does seem like the thing that probably belongs in a psychiatrist's hands, though...

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Looks like a psychological pathology to me. It should be treated, but certainly not encouraged.

This. This man has to be mentally ill.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Neurologists have tentatively concluded there is a real and tangible difference between the brains of men and women, which can explain much of the symptoms we call "gender dysphoria". This is not a factor in people wishing they have only one arm.

I mean, pschyatrists should determine whether these people are best treated or whether it's best to allow them to go through with such a procedure, but it is a different kettle of fish...

     But isn't the difference between folks with one arm and folks with two arms the most fundamental division in our society?

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Are we going to siphon off every peculiarity into an "ism" that has its own rights and interests? It seems that every mental illness wants to be a demographic, and every strange characteristic wants to be a mental illness.

That is the inevitable consequences of a) putting great emphasis on personal autonomy and freedom of choice with b) arguing that certain human characteristics are beyond choice and that c) these may be differ in individuals (i.e. there is a natural variation in human characteristics, our differences are who are we are).

Given this there is no really intellectual consistent way that these people can be considered any more 'ill' than the transgendered (neither can otherkin fwiw) no matter what we may feel otherwise.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

...yes, this is blatantly a mental illness.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

...yes, this is blatantly a mental illness.

What makes this more of a mental illness than claiming you are a woman when you have an XY Chromosone? What consistent system defines one as a mental illness and the other as not? Especially as both may involve surgery.

Of course you may argue that both are mental illnesses in which case all I say is that these people exist, now what are you going to do about it?

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

...yes, this is blatantly a mental illness.

What makes this more of a mental illness than claiming you are a woman when you have an XY Chromosone? What consistent system defines one as a mental illness and the other as not? Especially as both may involve surgery.

Of course you may argue that both are mental illnesses in which case all I say is that these people exist, now what are you going to do about it?

I am admittedly unsure about much of...anything related to the psychology of gender dysphoria, so I'll pass.

[H. Ross Peron]

Looks like a psychological pathology to me. It should be treated, but certainly not encouraged.

This. This man has to be mentally ill.

[DemPGH]

This is indicative of a very profoundly disturbed individual who needs help. I wonder if that couldn't even be some kind of schizophrenia?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Are we going to siphon off every peculiarity into an "ism" that has its own rights and interests? It seems that every mental illness wants to be a demographic, and every strange characteristic wants to be a mental illness.

That is the inevitable consequences of a) putting great emphasis on personal autonomy and freedom of choice with b) arguing that certain human characteristics are beyond choice and that c) these may be differ in individuals (i.e. there is a natural variation in human characteristics, our differences are who are we are).

Given this there is no really intellectual consistent way that these people can be considered any more 'ill' than the transgendered (neither can otherkin fwiw) no matter what we may feel otherwise.

I'm going to disagree with you here. We can see, and it is generally hypothesised ,that there are real and tangible differences between the neurology of men and women. When such differences contradict the reality of the body the brain is located in (ERROR: VAGINA NOT FOUND) for whatever reason, the brain reacts by producing the symptoms labeled as gender dysphoria. These symptoms are best treated by allowing the individual to 'transition'.

This is different from so-called 'otherkin'. A developing embryo, depending on hormones and such, can either develop into a man or a woman, normally based on the influence of the 'sex chromosomes'. An embryo cannot develop into a chicken. A human can not have the brain of a Sasquatch or a dolphin. It is biologically impossible.

Likewise, one cannot have the 'brain of a one-armed individual'. There is no consequential neurological difference between people born with differing amount of limbs. This strikes me more of 'Body Dysmorphic Disorder', where people pick up on a percieved fault in their body and become obsessed with it. doctors generally advise against allowing these individuals to change themselves, because normally BDD continues after the fault is 'fixed', normally because the patient has an underlying issue (like OCD).

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Are we going to siphon off every peculiarity into an "ism" that has its own rights and interests? It seems that every mental illness wants to be a demographic, and every strange characteristic wants to be a mental illness.

That is the inevitable consequences of a) putting great emphasis on personal autonomy and freedom of choice with b) arguing that certain human characteristics are beyond choice and that c) these may be differ in individuals (i.e. there is a natural variation in human characteristics, our differences are who are we are).

Given this there is no really intellectual consistent way that these people can be considered any more 'ill' than the transgendered (neither can otherkin fwiw) no matter what we may feel otherwise.

I'm going to disagree with you here. We can see, and it is generally hypothesised ,that there are real and tangible differences between the neurology of men and women. When such differences contradict the reality of the body the brain is located in (ERROR: VAGINA NOT FOUND) for whatever reason, the brain reacts by producing the symptoms labeled as gender dysphoria. These symptoms are best treated by allowing the individual to 'transition'.

This is different from so-called 'otherkin'. A developing embryo, depending on hormones and such, can either develop into a man or a woman, normally based on the influence of the 'sex chromosomes'. An embryo cannot develop into a chicken. A human can not have the brain of a Sasquatch or a dolphin. It is biologically impossible.

Likewise, one cannot have the 'brain of a one-armed individual'. There is no consequential neurological difference between people born with differing amount of limbs. This strikes me more of 'Body Dysmorphic Disorder', where people pick up on a percieved fault in their body and become obsessed with it. doctors generally advise against allowing these individuals to change themselves, because normally BDD continues after the fault is 'fixed', normally because the patient has an underlying issue (like OCD).

That makes sense as a distinction, though it is also the case then that there is nothing stopping BDD from manifesting itself as gender dysphoria, making the diagnosis very tricky.

[RTX]

I see no difference between this guy wanting to cut off his arm and another guy wanting to mutilate himself between the legs because he feels like a woman. Both probably have some sort of chemical imbalance that is not yet well understood.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

I see no difference between this guy wanting to cut off his arm and another guy wanting to mutilate himself between the legs because he feels like a woman. Both probably have some sort of chemical imbalance that is not yet well understood.

i see no difference between you and a bucket of elephant turds, but you don't hear me complaining about that