Adisability pretender is asubculture term meaning a person who behaves as if they were disabled. It may be classified as a type offactitious disorder or as amedical fetishism.
One theory[citation needed] is that pretenders may be the "missing link" between devotees and wannabes, demonstrating an assumed continuum between those merelyattracted 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 havingbody integrity identity disorder.
Pretending takes a variety of forms. Somechatroom 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 tissuenecrosis caused by constricted blood supply.
People with this condition may refer to themselves as "transabled".[2][3][4]
