Transablism disorder: disability as a form of self-identity
Imagine waking up in the morning, perfectly healthy but plagued by a burning desire to sabotage your own body. Not by accident or negligence—no, this is premeditated. You’re not after attention, nor are you trying to escape a monotonous life. Instead, you’re chasing what you believe to be your “true self”: a disabled person. Welcome to the bizarre, morally murky world of transablism, where able-bodied individuals aspire to embody disabilities. If you think this sounds like satire, buckle up; it gets worse.
What Is Transablism?
This phenomenon is often linked to Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID). Those affected experience a profound sense of incongruence between their physical body and their mental identity. For some, it manifests as a wish to lose a limb. For others, it’s blindness or paralysis. The end goal? To finally feel “complete” by rendering oneself incomplete. It’s as paradoxical as it sounds.
The Reality of Self-Inflicted Disability
The lengths to which some individuals go to achieve their desired disability are stomach-turning. People have intentionally injured themselves, sought dubious surgeries, or even attempted amateur amputations. These acts of self-harm are framed not as cries for help but as journeys of self-fulfilment. Yet, let’s call a spade a spade: these actions are reckless, dangerous, and often exploitative of medical systems already stretched thin.
While mental health professionals might frame transablism as a psychological disorder deserving of compassion and treatment, it reeks of privileged absurdity. People born into able-bodied lives—free of the daily struggles faced by those with disabilities—actively seeking out suffering? It’s the kind of irony that would make Kafka proud.
A Self-Indulgent Fantasy?
The question that looms large is: why? Why would anyone want to take on the burdens of disability voluntarily? Transablists claim that living as an able-bodied person feels wrong, unnatural, even suffocating. They describe their desire to become disabled as akin to a deep yearning for authenticity.
But how authentic can it really be when someone with full agency chooses to disable themselves? Authenticity is a luxury, after all. For those born with disabilities, life isn’t an abstract quest for self-actualisation; it’s a series of battles against inaccessible infrastructure, social stigma, and systemic discrimination. For transablists, disability becomes a romanticised idea—a fetishised identity they can opt into. It’s disability-as-costume, worn for personal satisfaction at the expense of genuine understanding.
Exploitation and Appropriation
Let’s address the elephant in the room: transablism is an appropriation of disability. It borrows the language, struggles, and lived experiences of disabled people, reframing them as aspirational traits rather than real challenges. Advocates might argue that transablism is about embracing identity, but critics would point out that it’s far too easy to flirt with hardship when you can manufacture it on your own terms.
What about the resources transablists consume once they achieve their desired state? Prosthetics, wheelchairs, or surgeries—all are finite, expensive, and desperately needed by people with no choice in the matter. When someone self-inflicts disability and then occupies a space within systems designed to support the disabled, it’s a slap in the face to those who genuinely depend on those resources.
Mental Health: A Convenient Shield?
When cornered, proponents of transablism often fall back on the mental health argument: “It’s a disorder! We need support, not judgment!” And yes, BIID may very well be a legitimate mental health issue. But does acknowledging this absolve individuals of the moral implications of their actions?
Mental health disorders don’t exist in a vacuum. They must be understood in the context of their impact on others. A person with kleptomania, for example, doesn’t get a free pass to steal. Similarly, the pursuit of disability, while perhaps psychologically justified for the individual, has ripple effects that harm real communities. Treating transablism as a purely personal matter ignores its wider social ramifications.
The Slippery Slope of Identity
In an age where identity is increasingly fluid, transablism pushes the boundaries of what society is willing to accept. But is it fair to place disability in the same category as gender, race, or sexuality? These identities, while deeply personal, don’t rely on self-inflicted harm or deliberate physical alteration. To compare them is not only misguided but diminishes the struggles of those who live with disabilities involuntarily.
Moreover, what does it say about our culture that some individuals feel so disconnected from themselves that they resort to such extremes? Is transablism a symptom of broader societal alienation, or is it simply an extension of a growing obsession with self-definition at all costs?
Conclusion
At best, transablism is a misguided attempt at self-discovery. At worst, it’s a gross appropriation of a marginalised group’s reality, cloaked in the language of authenticity and mental health. Whatever your stance, one thing is certain: transablism forces uncomfortable questions about identity, privilege, and morality.
Perhaps it’s time we stopped bending over backwards to validate every form of self-expression and instead asked whether such choices do more harm than good. Because if the pursuit of authenticity comes at the expense of empathy, decency, and common sense, maybe it’s not worth pursuing at all.
