BIID and the concept of trans-abled

[Morrigoon]

I thought this might be interesting discussion fodder. Watching a show right now on Body Integrity Identity Disorder. Basically, people who somehow feel that a certain part of their body (usually a limb) isn't a part of them and they feel compelled to remove it.

Not something people used to hear much about, but I'm thinking that before the days of safe amputation, the concept of elective amputation was so foreign that sufferers would never have had reason come forward about it. They probably just had "accidents" of the variety that modern sufferers talk about/consider/have.

Sufferers argue that relief only comes from removal of the offending limb, and the experience of those who have found a way to remove theirs seems to hold that up. But if this is a neurological disorder, then is there a way to fix it on the desire end, rather than on the limb end? Scientists are still looking into what causes the disorder, so looks like that's a while off.

The whole concept is so weird and beyond our normal mental understanding as to be fascinating.

And it brings up another question... if sufferers somehow won the legal right to the changes they want to make to their body (as in the comparison the article makes between people with this problem and the transgendered), then what adjustments would society make? Would the privileges/support given to the disabled be extended to the transabled? Would society tolerate that?