Attraction to disability

Type of sexual attraction

Attraction to disability is a sexualised interest in the appearance, sensation and experience of disability. Other researchers have approached it as a form of identity disorder. The most common interests are towards amputations, prosthesis, and crutches. As a sexual fetish, attraction to disability is known as devotism, and those with the fetish are known as devotees. In the standard psychiatric reference Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, text revision (DSM IV tr), the fetish falls under the general category of "Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders" and the more specific category of paraphilia, or sexual fetishes; this classification is preserved in DSM 5.

Desires to pretend to be disabled and acquire a disability are extensions of the pathological disorder. About half of all devotees occasionally pretend (43 percent of Nattress [1996], sample of 50). Avowed "wannabes" seem to number not more than five percent of the devotee wannabe population, though Nattress (1996) found 22 percent of his sample of 50 had wanted to become disabled. Accordingly, Bruno (1997) considers those affected by versions of the paraphilia under the broad heading of Devotees, Pretenders, and Wannabes (DPWs), as used here. Relationships between DPWs and disabled people tend to be reported as being ordinary, the attraction being sated by the fact of the partner's disability. It appears that the attraction to disability is undisclosed in a proportion of DPW disabled relationships. DPWs may press disabled partners to put their disabilities to the fore in intimate situations and exhibit them in social ones. Sexually, some DPWs have been reported to engage in active tactile observation as much as in intercourse. That DPWs find it hard to satisfy both sexual and emotional needs is borne out in findings by both Nattress (1996) and Dixon (1983). They report that, despite reasonable success in obtaining sexual contact with disabled people, just 21 percent of DPWs had had long term relationships with disabled partners. About half of DPWs fail to establish relationships with disabled people. "Second best" options for them are relationships with pretenders and wannabes. Practically all DPWs have experience of relationships with non disabled partners. Such relationships are also reported to be ordinary despite the (mostly undisclosed) attraction to disability on the part of one partner. Although it is not common knowledge within mainstream communities, the internet has revolutionized the process by which DPWs can meet each other while pursuing meaningful relationships. Some of these individuals, however, have expressed a level of concern when it comes to their first face to face encounters. While most of these encounters are completely safe, there are important guidelines to provide a sense of security to either party who may feel vulnerable.

Psychology views sadism and masochism as interchangeable, with voyeurism and exhibitionism as their respective aspects. Devotees' observation based behavior and preference for display minded partners seem to support explanations 2 to 4. Devotee pornography tends to display the appearance of disability across a range of activities rather than focus on sexual situations. Recent neuroscientific research suggests that apotemnophilia has a neurological basis.

The DPW community constantly debates the origins of the attraction ("the Why?"). The Amelotatist, reporting a poll of 195 devotees was a community contribution and the first synthesis of explanations. A 2005 straw poll in two DPW fora revealed that in childhood many respondents (often first or only children) felt alienated from peers, forming solitary interests in inter alia, transportation, or collecting. These feelings may indicate that empathy with disabled people, subject to exclusion in most cultures, is among the motivations for the attraction. It may also indicate that admiration is at play in the attraction, in as much as disabled people per force overcome inhibitions similar to those many DPWs face, as hinted above.