A North Carolina woman named Jewel Shuping has Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID), a rare psychological condition which causes people to believe that they should be disabled. Some BIID patients desire amputation of their otherwise healthy limbs. In Shuping’s case, blindness was something she felt she should have been born with.
Shuping says she the idea of being blind made sense to her at the age of six. According to People, the now 30-year-old was able to fluently read Braille by the time she was 20. She claims to have found a psychologist willing to help fulfill her dream in 2006. After a couple of weeks, they decided Shuping was ready to lose her eyesight. The psychologist poured drain cleaner in her eyes.
Shuping said her eyes were “screaming.” “All I could think was, ‘I am going blind, it is going to be okay.’” Over the next few months, her eyesight began to deteriorate.
Shuping’s choice to blind herself caused a rift between her and her family. At first, she told relatives she had become blind in an accident. Once they learned the truth, her mother and sister cut off contact. Shuping has no regrets. “I was so happy, I felt that this was who I was supposed to be,” she said.
Contact the author at marie.lodi@jezebel.com.
Image via Barcroft TV.