The Wheelchair Zone

Some people on earth do have a special relationship with disabilities. They feel especially interested in people with disabilities, they like to explore the fact of being disabled, some really wants to life as a disabled person. Mostly the interest is focalized on people with mobility impairments, amputated people, paraplegics, congenital disabled persons. Those attracted to disabled persons are commonly called devotees, non-disabled person who acts as if they are disabled binding up a leg, using wheelchairs, crutches and braces are devotees. Wannabes actually wants to become disabled (DPW’s).

The aim of this article is not to provide an exhaustive overview of the phenomenon. It only tries to explain the object of this site and gives my personal testimony. The objective is also to stimulate the debate on the analysis of this special attraction between the members of this community and to reinforce the scientific research on the topic.

The special attraction to the disabled is not a recent new hype as there seems to be different traces in the human cultural history: the French philosopher Michel De Montaigne (1533 1592) wrote in his essay Of Cripples that he knows not Venus in here perfect sweetness who has never lain with a lame mistress. Henri Miller describes in his novel The tropic of Cancer (1934) a successful prostitute with a wooden leg. In the magazine London Life a certain Wallace Short published between 1924 and 1941 a series of stories involving young and nice looking crippled, mostly limbless women. The articles had great success. In the American erotic magazine Penthouse (70ties) letters were published discussing the sexual interest of men for disabled women, more especially amputees. In the Peter Greenaway’s film A Zed and Two Noughts two men take care of a women with a leg amputee, who amputees her second leg to please the men.

Some scientific research has been done on the topic. In 1888, the German psychiatrist von Krafft-Ebing first described a sexual attraction to “bodily defects” and illustrated this phenomenon with two case histories. A twenty-eight-year-old man had been excited by the sight of women’s disfigured feet since the age of seventeen and a young man who pretended to be lame by limping around on two brooms instead of crutches. Ph. D John Money (1977) published a case history of “apotemnophilia” i.e. an attraction to the idea of being an amputee.

On the World Wide Web there appear a growing number of dedicated websites and discussion groups on what s called devotees or those attracted to disabled persons, pretenders and wannabes.

Despite having been described for more a century, there is no final understanding of the origin of the attractions, desires and behaviors of the DPW phenomenon. Some authors describe the phenomenon as a paraphelia, a sexual disorder. Other authorities believe it should be classified as a neuro-psychological condition like body dysmorphic disorder or a gender-identity disorder. DPW’s are supposed to be uncomfortable with their body identity. The preference for disabled or physically challenged persons is sometimes explained following the “love object or dominator theory: men identify a partner less threatening, more attainable or more easily dominated. The same reason is sometimes used to explain the attraction men have for women in high heeled shoes.

Some theories are related to the stump of amputees. The stump would represent a penis, providing a less threatening sexual stimulus for male “latent homosexuals” and a counter phobic protection against the fear of castration.

On the bases of my own experience and of the personal cases that were reported to me, none of the above theories provides a valuable explanation.

I found one theory developed by Grant Riddle in his book Amputees and Devotees in 1989 as being the most plausible explanation. Riddle suggests a combination of factors. These included a strict anti-sexual attitude in the child’s household, deprivation of maternal love, a lack of parental interest in early childhood. The subsequent fear for survival combined with a self-generated fantasy for security provides the trigger which is released when the parent is seen to show concern for a physically challenged child. In other words the child wants to be like the handicapped neighbor, assuming he will receive much more attention in that state. Later with puberty, the emotional turmoil returns but on this occasion, the solution is applied to a person to whom the adolescent is sexually attracted. From out of his subconscious the idea is than that this person must be disabled. Hence he becomes a devotee.

This explanation seems to correspond pretty well with my own experience: a rather absent mother paying attention to her carrier, an authoritarian father, not much warmth and effectiveness in my childhood. My father showed much concern when speaking about disabled child or persons. He told a story about a disabled boy he defended when being young. I remember we were once in Florence in summer and there was this boy walking with crutches. In fact he dragged his lamed legs between two arm crutches. My father expressed his compassion with the guy. I think I was 8 or 9 at that moment. Its a strong imagine that influenced me certainly. Other moments I remember were when my father broke his foot. Maybe my mother was then nicer to him, taking care of him, what was really in her habits. These are even older memories: I must have been 5 or 6 at that moment.

Anyway my first memories of pretending are linked to having my foot bounded in a handkerchief, walking limping in my room. I was then 8-9 years old. Afterwards I experimented with plaster, walking canes, later crutches and wheelchairs. The most important aspect for me is indeed the idea of being helpless, of being taking care off. People looking at me when I dragging myself in my chair coming out of a swimming pool or transferring from my car to my wheelchair.

As a young adolescent I became interested in disabled girls, what was not the case in my younger life. I mean: I had an interest in girls since my 12-13 years, but this was not linked to the attraction to any disability. Later I started to be particularly interested in first girls wearing plasters, walking with crutches, sitting in wheelchairs I had relations with non disabled girls, married a girl who was petit and have now a relationship with a woman who is quadriplegic.

The special interest was not always equally present in my live: most of the time I managed to not let it take too prominent a place. The fact that I actually can make this analysis and participate to the debate on the basis of the information found on the internet is a great relief as I have always been – as many others – very lonely with and shamed of my special interest.

I therefore hope that this site will contribute to a better understanding and a source of information for young and older people confronted with it.

The article is work in progress and reactions are most welcome!

-Patrick

ptrckwtrs@yahoo.co.uk