As I have said on here before, I have a theory that having a condition like cerebral palsy frees one up to express what others may repress. To a certain extent, the normal rules do not apply, so we can – perhaps – do things others cannot. In my case, I dress up and experiment with femininity and my feminine side; Lyn went one (huge) step further and transitioned permanently. I know that’s an oversimplification, especially in Lyn’s case, but I think that having cp sometimes makes you freer to explore other facets of one’s personality. Basically, you come to the conclusion that people will stare anyway, so you might as well give them a decent reason to and/or give voice to desires that may otherwise be hidden.

However, this got me wondering: how else might this phenomenon show itself? Gender is one way, perhaps the most obvious, but I’d be willing to bet that other crips have found other ways to explore freakism. After all, not everybody looks as cute as me in a tutu, or shares my fascination with femininity, and certainly not everyone has Lyn’s guts. How, then, might this freakism show itself other than along gender lines? There must be other disabled extroverts out there who have come to the same conclusions I have, yet do not share my particular penchant. I would like to find out how other disabled people express their selves, and how much they internalise this ‘freak’ status. Is it just confined to people with cerebral palsy, or do people with other conditions play with their freak roles? Time to go freak hunting.

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