# What are disability "pretenders" and what do they get out of it **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403 "2012-06-27T00:04:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Neevil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Neevil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neevil)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/21 "2012-06-27T20:43:08Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > It’s all worth it if you can get some [BEAUTIFUL TWIN BODY-POWERED DORRANCE #5X STAINLESS-STEEL HOOKS](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=69740) out of the deal. Oh good God, that was before my time, thanks for the link! This is definitely a very strange condition, to say the least. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/22 "2012-06-27T21:06:12Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > No, this is not the reason. They get “relief” from pretending. Pretenders believe they were born in the wrong body; they feel ‘complete’ when they act out their ‘pretend’ disabilities in their lives; whether it be by using a wheelchair when out and about or whatever it may be. It is a true illness. > > That is why I feel those few TV specials (I don’t recall the specifics) like the one featuring the woman on TLC (I think) who was supposedly a pretender do more harm than good. Those aren’t reflective of most pretenders. > > If you research pretenders and find some actual testimonials, it’s rather eye-opening. They don’t like their conditions. They don’t choose them. They are afflicted by them just like anyone else with a physical malady. Unfortunately many disabled people view pretenders and wannabees with nothing but scorn, as they see anyone who would FAKE having the life-altering disabilities that were forced upon them as shitty people. It’s not so cut and dry, however. > ETA: Now this is _not_ to say that the DPW spectrum doesn’t contain predators and creeps. It does. I agree that there are many kinds of Ds, Ps, Ws. Maybe the BIID types are less prevalent than other, less… tortured souls. Tell me: do you think D-P-W is a progression? Say, from devotee, who is sexually attracted to people with disabilities; to a Pretender who likes on-and-off living life with a disability; to a Wannabe who actually wishes to have body modification to realize being a person with a disability. And I mean progression in the sense that some do move along it, from D to P to W, with some among them stopping along the way. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/23 "2012-06-27T21:39:00Z")
There seems to be a distinction drawn in the causes and motivation of pretenders who want attention, and pretenders who are devotees that pretend for sexual gratification. These two links provide a lot more information than the wiki article that cites them. [Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) Is the Amputation of Healthy Limbs Ethically Justified?](http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265160802588194) [Devotees, Pretenders And Wannabes: Two Cases Of Factitious Disability Disorder.](http://www.overground.be/features.php?page=THE&article=72&lan=en) There is no way to pin down the motivations of human beings to a simple set of rules, but pretending seems to be commonly a result of a childhood with little love or attention and is not necessarily sexually motivated - more like a learned behavior from seeing people with disabilities get a lot of attention during their own attention-starved childhoods. But sexual motivations also may apply if the pretender is a devotee. Wannabe’s, as opposed to pretenders, actually want to become disabled. It seems more often this is desired by amputation than paralysis. They express an overwhelming sense that a body part does not belong to them and want it removed. Devotees are sexually attracted to disabilities and may or may not be pretenders or wannabes. When you combine the whole package the motivation of devotees is always sexual. This may lead to sexually motivated cases of wannabes or pretenders. The motivations of pretenders may be a result of lack of love and attention in their lives, and/or sexual motivations, and the motivations of wannabes, while also possibly intertwined with sexual devoteeism or pretending, tend to be based on their own body image and sense that they are ‘supposed’ to be disabled and feel uncomfortable in their able bodies. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/24 "2012-06-27T22:44:35Z")
The Overground article, in its very specific explanation of BIID as the desire for amputation, raises a question for me. There are blind wannabes and deaf wannabes; are they considered to have BIID too? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/25 "2012-06-27T23:22:24Z")
I’ve know several people who have worked as private detectives, and a big part of their job seems to be spying on people who claim to be disabled for insurance purposes but who seem fine when they think no one is watching. This is physical, not mental, stuff. I also know someone who claims all sorts of mental problems but who has no problem going clubbing. Best we can tell is that her “disability” is a good explanation for why she is a failure, and a way she hopes to get money without working. She even thought she could schedule the start of her disability. ---
**Author:** ![Neevil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Neevil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neevil)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/26 "2012-06-27T23:47:31Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > The Overground article, in its very specific explanation of BIID as the desire for amputation, raises a question for me. There are blind wannabes and deaf wannabes; are they considered to have BIID too? Yes it appears so. > **[Body Integrity Identity Disorder - BIID-Info.org](https://biid-info.org/What_is_BIID%3F)** ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/27 "2012-06-27T23:53:57Z")
Wow. That’s a unique site. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/28 "2012-06-27T23:55:28Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I’ve know several people who have worked as private detectives, and a big part of their job seems to be spying on people who claim to be disabled for insurance purposes but who seem fine when they think no one is watching. This is physical, not mental, stuff. > > I also know someone who claims all sorts of mental problems but who has no problem going clubbing. Best we can tell is that her “disability” is a good explanation for why she is a failure, and a way she hopes to get money without working. She even thought she could schedule the start of her disability. I wouldn’t say those were pretenders in this more specialized usage. The two you describe have a reason other than a sexual or other compulsion to fake a disability. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/29 "2012-06-28T00:05:26Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > [Devotees, Pretenders And Wannabes: Two Cases Of Factitious Disability Disorder.](http://www.overground.be/features.php?page=THE&article=72&lan=en) This work has really been a source of controversy and it has been discredited by many working within the DPW community. I am in a hurry now so I can’t get them but I will find some links later that explain this. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/30 "2012-06-28T00:16:28Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > This work has really been a source of controversy and it has been discredited by many working within the DPW community. I am in a hurry now so I can’t get them but I will find some links later that explain this. I found it as a result of going to the cites in the wikipedia article you cited. Maybe the wiki only selected non-controversial aspects of the work though. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/31 "2012-06-28T00:46:06Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > I found it as a result of going to the cites in the wikipedia article you cited. Maybe the wiki only selected non-controversial aspects of the work though. Wikipedia cites to controversial stuff all the time to establish controversy and characterize the sides in the argument. Their main goals are that an article itself be neutral and that it give _due_ ( **not equal** ) weight to the various sides in any controversy. For example, the article on evolution is about evolution, not about various creation “science” views that have no standing in the scientific community; those are barely mentioned, if at all, due to the fact the scientific consensus is overwhelmingly against them. ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/32 "2012-06-28T00:54:32Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Cite: My ex-wife. Now I won’t contest that she is seriously mentally ill, but her ‘disability’ claim was that she was agorophobic and couldn’t be out in public. Apparently working at the annual Ren Fest or hanging around the Mall of America weren’t an issue, just working an actual job. :rolleyes: > > She tried real hard to get me to try to claim disability as well so that neither of us had to work. No fucking way was I walking down that road. > > What did she get? Free income, never had to work, excuses for all sorts of bad behavior both public and private. That’s pretty much what any of them get. Jesus, I have never understood this “free income” mentality. I am disabled, broke my back working as a linesman. I made 75 to 100K a years (depending on overtime and if we had any major storms). I now get to live on $1550 a month (that doesn’t include a $100 a month they take for Medicare). Who in their right mind would want to live on this kind of money? And I have been told by the various SS attorneys that I have worked with that I am a “lucky” one, as I had a high income. Because of that my monthly benefit is “high”. I can’t imagine living on much less, but if you had a job paying $30k a year, your benefit is going to be much lower than what I recieve. Why would you want to live on that? Get a damn job and earn some money and live a good life. I would give anything if I could go back to work. I not only miss the money, but I miss working. So much I dream about it everyday. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/33 "2012-06-28T00:56:11Z")
Pat’s link is correct. Except for existing guide horses, it must be a dog, and you can ask what the dog is trained to do. I feel the is wide open for abuse. Oh, there is a less protected class of emotional suport animals. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/34 "2012-06-28T01:16:24Z")
Thank you all for the information > [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > Bit of a hijack but, yeah, I always try to put on a good front in public, limp less, stand up straight when I want to slump etc. I’m in receipt of some disability benefits and it worries me (slightly) that some investigator could film me looking more or less OK on my way home, to “prove” I’m faking when they don’t see how I am the minute I get indoors and drop the act. Me too, I have two conditions, Dyspraxia and Depression, no one knows how someone with dyspraxia should act, but people wonder why someone with depression would be so outgoing, positive and friendly. (My mood waxs and wanes, and no one sees me while I am despairing in bed) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/35 "2012-06-28T01:49:14Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Mmm hmmm…:dubious: So you say…But you got a thing for those gimpy guys don’t cha??? :dubious: Ya know, I never _thought_ you were a troll but now… _::: thumps **Ambivalid** with a rolled up newspaper :::_ You know darn well it was the Awesome Power of Love that allowed me to overlook my True Love’s disability. Although I will now go accuse him of having a fetish for able-bodied girls with strong backs who can open jars on their own. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/36 "2012-06-28T03:18:42Z")
I know there’s been a few explanatory links already but I think [this](http://biid-info.org/images/4/4c/Introduction-to-BIID-for-Social-Workers.pdf) one explains things in a clear way regarding B.I.I.D. and DPWs. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/37 "2012-06-28T03:26:37Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > I found it as a result of going to the cites in the wikipedia article you cited. Maybe the wiki only selected non-controversial aspects of the work though. I rushed that post and didn’t articulate it well. Yes, Dr. Bruno’s work on DPWs was-and is-considered the benchmark of such research. It was parts of his work; or conclusions that he drew from his research, that has been criticized. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/38 "2012-06-28T03:38:24Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I know there’s been a few explanatory links already but I think [this](http://biid-info.org/images/4/4c/Introduction-to-BIID-for-Social-Workers.pdf) one explains things in a clear way regarding B.I.I.D. and DPWs. “For every freedom there is sacrifice and I would much prefer the disability incumbent of amputation to the much worse disability of a broken life that comes from a body that is not reconcilable to self.” ``` -Quote from actual 'wannabe'. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Rhaegar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/51bf81/32.png) [@Rhaegar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhaegar)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/39 "2012-06-28T03:54:34Z")
Now I’m not saying that there aren’t people who are legitimately disabled with back pain, psychiatric disorders and migraines, but there are some people who use these conditions to claim disability, mainly because there isn’t a definitive test to confirm the diagnosis. It just isn’t easy to disprove that someone is suffering from those conditions. Even an MRI on a normal person without back pain will show bulging discs. ---
**Author:** ![benbo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@benbo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benbo1)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-disability-pretenders-and-what-do-they-get-out-of-it/626403/40 "2012-06-28T03:57:37Z")
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