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BIID vs Transabled
Written by Sean on Wednesday, March 21, 2007
There appears to be some confusion, misunderstanding and differences of opinion as to what "transabled" stands for and what the difference between BIID and Transability is. It’s time I talk a bit more about this.
On a Yahoo! Group, someone said:
I believe BIID is an illness and that transability is an impairment.
Having coined the word transability, I reserve the right to disagree with that statement.
Body Integrity Identity Disorder is the "clinical" name of a condition. Transabled is a friendlier
term. Just like Gender Identity Disorder (GID) is a clinical name for a condition
and Transsexual is it’s "friendly" equivalent.
To say that one is an illness and the other an impairment is a bit like saying "six of one, half a dozen of the other".
Granted, not all illnesses result in impairments, and not all impairments are the result of an illness. But for the sake of this post, I shall grant them equivalent status (note, equivalent, not equal…)
It is important to have a "friendly" name for out condition. While I don’t believe in political correctness and all that jazz, I do believe in the power language has. To use terms such as "apotemnophile" or "acrotomophile" nearly automatically triggers an impression of perversity, of nastiness. It’s not good for us to think about ourselves that way, nor is it good for others to see us that way.
Besides, it’s less cumbersome to say "I’m transabled" than to say "I have body integrity identity disorder". And "I have BIID" while shorter, seems to be a bit of a tongue twister (besides, who likes to speak in alphabet soup acronyms?).
I believe that the push was prompted by a desire not to be associated with a mental illness. As if there was some shame to it. I’ve recently written about BIID as a mental illness. And I keep on insisting that we shouldn’t not shy away from that label. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with having a mental illness.
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2 Comments
I think that one of the biggest impairments caused by mental illnesses is not inherent to the condition, but rather the social stigma attached to the label of mental illness.
I’ve mostly given up on splitting the hair on where the lines between mental illness, neurological disorder, and physical condition lie. To my mind, they are tightly interwoven, and inextricable.
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1 On 21 March, 2007, jim said:
“Transabled” is a new word for me, and I like it! It’s definition and how it pertains to me. I am transabled.
I also agree that there is nothing wrong with having a mental illness. I fight with my transabledness and my depression constantly. So many people have mental illness/disorders that are either undetected or denied by the person. Thats when its bad to have a mental illness because I believe thats when they become harmful. Harmful to the person and possibly harmful to others.