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I was allowed to play with my mother’s crutches when I was 7 – 10 or so. She didn’t need them at the time but they were kept in my closet.

I now keep a pair of crutches in my car and have been asked more than once, “What are THOSE doing in there?”

I should have said, “Because they’re so much fun to walk on!”

From a certain age on a child would not openly play or “pretend” a disability if it was BIID, I think. Because BIID is so disturbing and confusing, and from a certain age on one knows that “one does not desire such a thing”. I guess real BIID people tend to keep it secret.

That does only apply from the age on where one can realize that there are “dos” and “don’ts”.

What we can do is offer information, but we have not enough knowledge to approach parents. What could we tell them?

I think it is quite okay as it is right now. People who are searching for information will find it, not only in the www. It will be not much they can found, because we still don’t know much and a lot of research is necessary.

So I can only say: Everybody who wants to help the children with BIID, please take part in research projects!

Hear hear! @Phil, you are so right, we must take part in research, even if it doesn’t help us directly, it WILL help the youth with BIID

The girl WANTED the crutches, big time. fixated on the She even knows how to adjust them! There is much more in play here than a child being indulged in her (strange) request.

I am so torn over this, happy in a way for the girl, yet pissed(in one way) at whomever gave her the crutches.

A can of worms has been opened here, big time. Could you imagine the crap that will hit the wall the next day if she is seen outside by a nosy neighbour decides that some social agency needs to butt in? I just hope for the girl’s sake she won’t be subjected to shame, or made to feel bad about her desire(s), what ever that may be. I pray she won’t be subjected to incompetent arse hole counselling at school and be diagnosed with ADD or someother misdiagnosis. If the parent(s) are indulging her in her needs, my hat is off to them, if they truly understand the theraputic value of the crutches.

Assuming there is a BIID issue in play, the gift should have been given with a little more discression. Kind of like giving a paraplegic a wheelchair for Christmas.

Yet, to have been able to have my own crutches at that age…..envy I have not felt in a long time.

As for the boy in the first video, hard to say. Probably just innocent play that may be forgotten in a few weeks time.

I would think that this is just pretending as in playing. I certainly would not have asked my parents for crutches at her age. Even at a younger age I knew I wasn’t “playing”. However the boy could well have the start of some genetic disorder which makes him feel awkward about standing particularly when being filmed.

Careful attention to the one with the little boy shows that this is frequent behavior on his part, and the look on his face is dead serious, like, why don\’t these people leave me alone? I would think he will soon enough learn to restrict such behavior to private settings as many of us did, but I\’d lay money that sooner or later he\’ll wind up in a wheelchair.
As for the girl with the crutches, I share in spades Ronald\’s long forgotten envy.

What strikes me most here is the obsession of people to film everything and to publish everything, be it as personal and private as these films, in the internet.

I would say BIID is more healthy than this obsession.

The Jerry Springer syndrome.

Has it not started as a kind of play with all of us? And where does one cross the border?

As for the parents – are they not better off letting the children do as they please (in this regard) instead of making them feel ashamed. The longer it takes to develop those feelings of guilt and shame accompanying BIID, the better it is.
Maybe they won’t find themselves under the same pressure as we do today if they have once experienced dealing with the symptoms of BIID (if it is BIID and I’m quite certain about the little boy) in a more open way, before they eventually reserve it for private moments.
No envy at all – if I had the choice between all orthopedic equipment of the world and all that BIID-shit going away, I would definitely choose the latter.

The envy was in the context of life as I have lived it, no doubt I’d be better off without the BIID but it’s been part of my life all my live and has never shown the least sign of going away. Within those parameters, I’d have been a lot better off than I am if I’d had that kind of acceptance at that age. Now, how long would the acceptance have lasted if I had taken up crutchwalking 24/7/365, as I certainly would have liked to do? No way to know, but I find it an intriguing question.

Interesting… Just as a random tidbit, before mom figured out about BIID, she would buy me pretending stuff, and actually fulfilled a request for crutches for Christmas (she even wrapped it, but put them in my closet so as to avoid sister questions).

@Gordo — I’m not sure, though I assume it depends on how old the child is and if the child knows. I doubt you could research the answer, simply because it has never occurred before. It would almost assuredly be a special case, and may have to get bumped up a rung to be decided on properly. It would be interesting to find out, from a legal standpoint. I hope it isn’t abuse. Besides, if they say its illegal to allow a child to express them self, then that could have far-reaching effects in other controversial areas.

I just discovered BIID today while I was researching what I had felt and still feel regarding the effects of BIID. When I was about that girls age, I stole my mom’s ankle brace so I could play “sprained ankle” and fashioned my own pair of crutches using extendable curtain rods (which I still have). I also would limp in public or hold my arm to my stomach like it didn’t work etc. I would roleplay illness with my barbies or other dolls anywhere from broken legs to complete paralysis. When I got older, I managed to nuy my own crutches at a yard sale and would use them in the house when nobody was around. I would close my eyes and pretend to be blind, and now that I know sign language pretend to be Deaf. So, I can definitely identify with these two children.

@Rachel: What still amazes me is just how many of us there are who have shared such experiences.

In my immediate family, I recognize BIID tendencies in parent/s and in offspring, but not in siblings.