Trotterdam wrote:Related is a story I once read about deaf parents who had a child that was diagnosed with a condition that would cause permanent deathness if not treated in early childhood (but which, if dealt with quickly enough, was perfectly treatable), and chose not to allow the doctors to perform this treatment because they feared it would alienate their child from the "deaf community".Even aside from all the other obvious problems with this, I also note that amputating yourself without proper surgical training and equipment is likely to be extremely risky. But I somehow doubt there will be significant support for professional doctors providing amputation-on-request services to prevent botched back-alley operations...Frieden-und Freudenland wrote:But what if they amputate themselves, and then apply for disability benefits?
Well, I should have been more specific about this. When I say that transabled people amputate themselves, I don't mean that they grab an axe and chop off their own limbs (though this also occasionally happens). Mostly they go to a surgeon and ask him/her to amputate their unwanted (but perfectly healthy) limb. This request is often rejected, of course. But the transabled person typically doesn't stop there, and they often do things to injure themselves so severely that their limbs would have to be amputated. For example, they can purposely drop a heavy object on their feet to severely crush them and to thereby make an amputation necessary.
