# Woman self identifies as blind...so she blinded herself

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 1, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177 "2015-10-01T22:14:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/1 "2015-10-01T22:14:58Z")

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[http://kfor.com/2015/10/01/woman-says-she-is-happier-than-ever-after-fulfilling-lifelong-wish-of-becoming-blind/](http://kfor.com/2015/10/01/woman-says-she-is-happier-than-ever-after-fulfilling-lifelong-wish-of-becoming-blind/)

> [@](#):
>
> Jewel Shuping, 30, has Body Integrity Identity Disorder, according to Barcroft TV.
> 
> BIID is a condition in which able-bodied people believe they are meant to be disabled.
> 
> \<snip\>
> 
> Her need to lose her sight increased as she got older, and by 2006, she claims she found a psychologist who was willing to help her.
> 
> Shuping says the psychologist put numbing eye drops into her eyes, and then a couple of drops of drain cleaner.
> 
> “It hurt, let me tell you. My eyes were screaming and I had some drain cleaner going down my cheek burning my skin,” she said. “But all I could think was ‘I am going blind, it is going to be okay.”  
> \<snip\>
> 
> One of her eyes eventually had to be removed, her other eye had glaucoma and cataracts

WTF!!!

What kind of psychologist would assist a person this way?

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### Author: ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/2 "2015-10-01T22:31:10Z")

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Mental illness doesn’t exist anymore. If you think you are different than you were born, then you are different and it’s the medical community’s obligation to “fix” you.

Hey, it means a lot more money for the medical profession and at least in the short term, happier customers. It’s a lot easier to just physically change someone than to make their mind line up with what they think their body should be.

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### Author: ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/3 "2015-10-01T22:37:16Z")

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The article doesn’t offer any proof that a psychologist did this. I suspect she did it to herself, or got some loony friend to do it for her.

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### Author: ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/4 "2015-10-01T22:37:29Z")

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I’m gonna need some substantiation from some other source.

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### Author: ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/5 "2015-10-01T22:40:25Z")

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Maybe it was a friend that thought she was meant to be a psychologist and therefore she is a psychologist.

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### Author: ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/6 "2015-10-01T22:43:20Z")

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> [@adaher](#):
>
> Mental illness doesn’t exist anymore. If you think you are different than you were born, then you are different and it’s the medical community’s obligation to “fix” you.
> 
> Hey, it means a lot more money for the medical profession and at least in the short term, happier customers. It’s a lot easier to just physically change someone than to make their mind line up with what they think their body should be.

Someone who pours drain cleaner in your eyes is not a medical professional.

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### Author: ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/7 "2015-10-01T22:48:18Z")

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I believe I was meant to be a chicken. Do you think I can get the government to pay for me to be surgically altered to look like a chicken?

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### Author: ![jimbuff314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/8 "2015-10-01T22:52:50Z")

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Some Woody Allen movie: “We needed the eggs.”

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### Author: ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/9 "2015-10-01T22:58:49Z")

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It’s the inevitable outcome of the triumph of subjectivism.

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### Author: ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/10 "2015-10-01T23:01:09Z")

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> [@adaher](#):
>
> Mental illness doesn’t exist anymore. If you think you are different than you were born, then you are different and it’s the medical community’s obligation to “fix” you.

My life with Aspergers plus Depression is quite terrible. I have no chance to get a job or fit into society.

Not funny.

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### Author: ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/11 "2015-10-01T23:09:17Z")

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I would not suggest getting into another argument over whether transgender people are “mentally ill,” mostly because I think we have another thread for that.

I too find it hard to believe that a medical professional did this (if any of this happened at all), especially not with such crude methods.

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### Author: ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/12 "2015-10-01T23:20:33Z")

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Was she happy after becoming blind?

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### Author: ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/13 "2015-10-01T23:21:33Z")

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> [@CCitizen](#):
>
> My life with Aspergers plus Depression is quite terrible. I have no chance to get a job or fit into society.
> 
> Not funny.

no u

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### Author: ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/14 "2015-10-01T23:24:28Z")

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Another source. Still not a highly respected one.

> **[Jewel Shuping Blinds Herself with Drain Cleaner](https://people.com/celebrity/jewel-shuping-blinds-herself-with-drain-cleaner/)**
>
> "I went blind on purpose, but I don't feel it was a choice," Jewel Shuping said of her decision to blind herself

Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) Gee that sounds so familiar. Anyway I don’t understand why she wasn’t hospitalized. Asking for drain cleaner in her eyes seems like a legitimate mental health emergency.

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### Author: ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/15 "2015-10-01T23:27:20Z")

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> [@Omar\_Little](#):
>
> WTF!!!
> 
> What kind of psychologist would assist a person this way?

The kind who work out of their van with their degree from Harvord duct taped to the window.

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### Author: ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/16 "2015-10-01T23:28:51Z")

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> [@Ambivalid](#):
>
> Was she happy after becoming blind?

We’re still in the dark about that.

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### Author: ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/17 "2015-10-01T23:33:47Z")

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> [@CCitizen](#):
>
> My life with Aspergers plus Depression is quite terrible. I have no chance to get a job or fit into society.
> 
> Not funny.

I have Tourette’s and if I had grown up in today’s school system I probably would have been diagnosed on the spectrum myself.

Be glad you don’t live in Europe, where they will help you kill yourself for Depression:

[http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/03/the-dutch-debate-doctor-assisted-suicide-for-depression.html](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/03/the-dutch-debate-doctor-assisted-suicide-for-depression.html)

I wasn’t trying to be funny. I was commenting on how the medical community is doing away with the concept of objective reality. To the point where even life itself is a disorder rather than the depression.

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### Author: ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2015, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/18 "2015-10-02T00:38:26Z")

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> [@running\_coach](#):
>
> We’re still in the dark about that.

🙂 I needed that chuckle.

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### Author: ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2015, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/19 "2015-10-02T01:38:35Z")

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> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#):
>
> 🙂 I needed that chuckle.

I don’t see anything funny about this.

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### Author: ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177/20 "2015-10-02T01:39:32Z")

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> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> Another source. Still not a highly respected one.  
> [Jewel Shuping Blinds Herself with Drain Cleaner](http://www.people.com/article/jewel-shuping-blind-drain-cleaner-eyesight-disorder)
> 
> Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) Gee that sounds so familiar. Anyway I don’t understand why she wasn’t hospitalized. Asking for drain cleaner in her eyes seems like a legitimate mental health emergency.

My money is still on hoax.

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-self-identifies-as-blind-so-she-blinded-herself/733177.md?page=2)
