RedFox

I found something shocking, a group of people who want to or pretend to have a condition such as deafness and other people who are attracted to people with those conditions. They call themselves the transabled people.

What I found were a bunch of blogs by such people, plus a yahoo group for deaf wannabes. Someone already posted about that yahoo group around two years ago here. I found more than just deaf wannabes. On a blog by a deaf wannabe and pretender, I found links to other blogs by people like a blind wannabe and a MS wannabe. There's even a spinal cord injury pretender. The spinal cord one even has some creepy stories on her blogs with a character trying screw up her spine.

This really creeps me out. The blind wannabe wrote on her blog that she wanted to go blind by looking at the sun and thought about using lenses to make it faster, but her SO doesn't like that, so she wears special contacts to block her vision instead.

The MS wannabe's blog has stuff on going around in a wheelchair and clutches, even at work. She is even aware of what happens in MS, because it is the basis of her blog's name, demyelinate. It refers to how the myelin covering of the nerves get destroyed, likely by an autoimmune attack. She writes that she sometimes pretends to be deafblind, but feels that she is somehow meant to have MS. That creeps me out because I don't see how anyone could want such a thing to happen to them. It's also a waste of wheelchairs. The blogger also wrote about being let onto the buses for free, no questions asked. This is nutty even if she has an unlimited pass that she doesn't bother to show to people.

The deaf wannabe's blog has stuff on her using earplugs made of cotton soaked in oil and blasting music into her ears with an Ipod and earphones, even at work. She also wrote about thinking about faking hearing loss on hearing tests to get a hearing aid sooner, even if she usually doesn't. That stills irks me. She's learning British Sign Language and wrote that she used to take ASL classes at NTID! I am sad and angry about my alma mater being defiled by such people. She also wrote that she posts to deaf forums, keeping the wannabe thing a secret.

The reason that particular deaf wannabe is like that seems to be related to her autistic spectrum condition and the associated oversensitivity to sound, which could be a reason for her saying that the earplugs she's using aren't enough. I wonder if there could be other reasons those people are wannabes, including creepy ones.

I hope that those deaf wannabes and pretenders don't waste interpreters and take them away from people who really need them.

I found another deaf forum with a thread about this and someone joined and copied a post about a hoh pretender who made friends with a real hoh person. What would happen if the real one found that the other one is a pretender? There, I also read of someone wanting to learn how to speak like a deaf person.

I also talked with a friend who's a transsexual and she was offended by those transabled people's frequent comparisons of themselves to transgendered and transsexual people because that's piggybacking themselves onto the other group.

What do you think of those transabled people? Should I post any links to those blogs? Actually, I won't need to because anyone can immediately find the deaf wannabe's blog with a Google search and find the other blogs linked to from there. What would you do if you found out that someone you thought was hoh, deaf or had some other condition like MS, was actually a wannabe and/or a pretender? What do you think of people attracted to those with such conditions?

Deafness

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PlateCafe

I saw on Dr. Phil's tv show, the woman pretended she had kidney failure. She even pretended she was on dialysis. But in real life, her kidneys are fine. She spent $20,000 on medical treatment and told many people she was dying. She lost 100 pounds, on purpose, by starving herself. And many people felt sorry for her. And they were willing to donate their kidneys for her. She said she did it to get attention. And she also lied about her education and people hired her. I don't know why people fake their illnesses. Here is an article,

Munchausen Syndrome: Those Who Fake Illness - Associated Content
Those suffering from Munchausen Syndrome battle a disorder that causes them to fake illnesses. People with Munchausen will fake and cause symptoms to be present for these pretend illnesses. Those with Munchausen Syndrome fake their illness to receive attention and sympathy from others.

Munchausen Syndrome patients crave attention from medical staff and will do what they have to in order to gain their attention, time and the privilege of continued visits. Munchausen Syndrome patients will go as far as to change medical-test results to prove their case. As one might imagine, those with Munchausen Syndrome have large medical bills. People who have Munchausen Syndrome, for some reason, have a need to be ill or injured to gain what they need emotionally. The pain of unnecessary tests and operations does not bother them as they are receiving the emotional benefit they crave.

Munchausen Syndrome may not be diagnosed for quite awhile as those who have these conditions are very deceptive. However, over a period of time and after much needless expense, medical personal will begin to notice the patient's medical histories as well as their records do not make sense. In addition any treatment, which has been prescribed, will not show positive results. Munchausen Symdrome patients will show great excitement at the prospects of having tests done for their new symptoms as well. Other symptoms a Munchausen patient may display are, continuous relapses, treatment at many medical facilities, negative results to many tests when there are constant and continuing symptoms, and refusal to communicate with medical staff concerning discrepancies.

No one knows for sure what is the exact cause of a person to developing Munchausen Syndrome, however, when a person has been abused either physically or emotionally they are at higher risk for developing the syndrome. There are other conditions that are thought to add to the likelihood of Munchausen Syndrome such as some psychological problems. These disorders include personality disorders, and depression. Because many who have Munchausen Syndrome have been abused, they may have a fear of being abandoned or may be unsure of their identity as well.

Those with Munchausen Syndrome go untreated for the condition many times because it is very difficult for them to admit they have a problem that must be treated by a psychologist. When a Munchausen patient receives help they must overcome the challenge of seeking medical attention when it is not necessary. Once they accomplish this, treatment is given to the underlying reasons for the syndrome.

RedFox

Munchausen Syndrome looks like a possibility. It reminds me of a suspected case of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy at my high school where a sped student's mom dosed his son with sleeping pills during weekends to keep him from bothering her. Then during the week, he'd be sleepy in class and improve towards the end of the week, only to be dosed again. Alas, they didn't have enough evidence to do anything about it. She also noticed that I had an interpreter, thought of her as a mere aide and forced the school to hire one for her son.

This is the Wikipedia article that started my search on people like this. Here's the part on disabled people's views of this stuff:

The Borderline section is creepy. Then after finding that article, I wondered if there were any deaf wannabes, so I googled that and found the blog of the deaf wannabe and pretender, which linked to the other blogs I described before.

I also found another article about someone who wants to become deaf here. It says that the person has a poor sense of self and may be trying to use deafness as a way to build up one.

Another thing I saw on those transable sites is stuff about properly representing the people with the condition that they're pretending to have, apparently to get it right out of respect. I think if they want to show true respect to people with the conditions, they should do something to help them, like by donating to places that do that, instead of wasting resources like wheelchairs and hearing aids.

These people also claim to have Body integrity identity disorder. The article uses it to mean people who want amputations to feel whole, but the other transable people seem to use BIID in a more general way. They're trying to make it look like a legitimate thing to be treated in the manner they want it to be, like by becoming deaf.

I'm deaf because of this. If a transable person were to pretend to have or want to have this syndrome, I'd feel insulted because that syndrome can kill you and my elder brother died because of it. It cheapens it because they won't really have it and if they get tired of it, they can just stop pretending, which I can't do because it's encoded into my genes.

Dixie

Ive heard about the deaf wannabes and even made a couple of comments about them here on AD - unbelievable is my only reaction. Why would anyone want to be disabled and or otherwise ill? Why run up medical bills in the thousands if not millions for an emotional craving? It flat out disgusts me.

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Freaky Cat

i remmy back at my school- there was a girl who always said she is sick and have to go to infirmary. she also always go to dr and say one thing to another like headaches, tummy ache etc.. looking for attention. now shes doing it with her daughters.. i felt sorry for the girls..

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Dixie

I had a classmate that was like that, but her parents divorced and she moved and I havent spoken to her in years. But she missed some 13 days of school in one semester for illnesses that were not recurring but rather different illnesses or symptoms, such as one day it might be her stomach, the next day her back may hurt. I always felt that she was a little off.

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jillio

That could be hypochondria. With hypochondria, people really believe that there is something wrong with their health. With Munchausen's Syndrome, they know there is nothing wrong, but they fake it just to gain attention. Someone who has hypochondria might have a headache from stress, but they believe that it is a brain tumor....they take little symptoms and blow them out of proportion. Someone with Munchausen's won't even have a headache, but will learn about the symtpoms of a brain tumor and fake them. Or they will purposely do things like inject fecal material into their blood stream to create symptoms of an illness.

With your friend, if it is just hypochondria, she could be teaching her daughters the same behavior by the way that she treats them when they are sick with any little thing. But, if she is actually doing something to them to make them sick, then it would be Munchausen's by Proxy. Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between the two. The biggest difference is the hypochondriac usually does have an illness, but they beleive it is much worse than it is......and someone with Muchausen's doesn't have an illness, but does something to themselves to make themselves sick. (Or to their children like Munchausen's by Proxy). And, Munchausen's can often lead to death unintentionally, so it is much more serious. People with hypochondria are just generally annoying with their constant complaints of not feeling well.

RedFox

That reminds me of some stories I read on the spinal cord injury pretender's blog. It's making me think that she's a wannabe too because those stories involved a woman getting someone to inject alcohol into her spine to paralyze her. Then she called the emergency number and went to a hospital, thereby wasting medical resources. There are also details regarding how to go to the bathroom when paralyzed. Another story had a wannabe commit suicide and moaned about how doctors didn't understand that they had an emotional need to become disabled.



Those people are nutty and need to go to a mental hospital.

jillio

Agreed. They really do need some intensive treatment, especially if they are doing these things to their children like in Munchausen's by Proxy. They are very confused and sick people.

Dixie

Any parent found to have Munchaunsen's by Proxy I do believe their children are taken in to protective custody and are only allowed supervised visits until the children reach their 18th birthday. But it is completely beyond me as to why anyone would want to harm their children in any way just for some emotional wants.

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RedFox

I found another yahoo group for deaf wannabes with an open archive, so I could read the messages without joining. There are some posts talking about damaging one's own hearing, like by blasting or poking them. Those people need to have their heads checked.

One person who posted there was an interpreter student who said that the stuff was appalling and a disease. One of the wannabes replied by calling the interpreter student intolerant and unwilling to listen to their reasons for doing it. But that wannabe didn't give any good reasons.

I found a post there about another yahoo group with a name that made it look like it was for pictures of deaf people. When I followed the link to it, I found that it was a members only adult group for pictures of the members wearing hearing aids or pictures of people they see out in town with hearing aids. I wonder if any of us have our pictures there without us knowing it. It seems to be some kind of fetish thing.

I was reading this stuff to try to find motivations they have for doing this. The deaf wannabe blog was by someone with an autistic spectrum condition who was oversensitive to sound, so I wondered if there were other wannabes who weren't like that. I found some people there who seemed to want to become deaf because they had lots of deaf friends and wanted to fit in. I thought you could be Deaf without being deaf. There also seemed to be plenty of people in the group who were already going deaf and wanted to make the process faster. They need some patience.

ASLGAL

These types of people pull you two ways - disgust and pity

Very strange and scary activity by the wannabee people.

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authentic

Those people are mentally illness, abnormal, and disgusting. I wish those people didn't give them a damn in the first place, and she would be like "I failed".

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jillio

Yes, the children would definately be removed from the parent's custody, but some of these cases continue for years before the parent's illness is detected. People with Munchausen's and Munchausen's by Proxy are very sophisticated in their medical knowledge. They actually study medical texts, etc. in order to present convincing symptoms.

Liza

Well we were warned if we masturbated we would go blind but we keep on doing it anyway! lol

That woman blogger Redfox mentioned needs to see a shrink asap. It is about her, not about the things she professes to have. Blindness, deafness, MS, etc. OMG!! She does not deserve our scorn, but our compassion.

But everything else.. can of worms, really. I say, to each one's own.. the world is colorful.

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Liebling:-)))

Interesting thread... *nodding agreement*


Yes I second that. It could be hypochondria, they suffer... They need to go to see therapy.

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*sniffing you*

RedFox

That woman doesn't claim to have all of those. They're separate people. The deaf wannabe's blog is here. I noticed that this thread is now above her blog in a Google search for deaf wannabe. That blog links to the blogs of the MS wannabe and the blind wannabe. Then the MS wannabe's blog links to the spinal cord injury pretender/probable wannabe's blog, which even has a picture of her on the front page, that is if it's not ripped off from someone else.

Tousi

Liza, then I guess I became deaf instead....

Volcanbaru

Crap, I wish I could trade my deafness for their hearing!


*rip my ears out*

shel90

Let's hope these wannabe's dont try to get a CI surgery! Of course, they wouldnt qualify but imagine if they went to an audi's office and inquire about getting a CI. Now, that would make them deaf for sure.

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deafskeptic

Deaf wannabes? MS wannabes? Blind wannabes? oh me.

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