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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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The story of a nondisabled transgender woman who identifies as disabled has divided social media.
Jørund Viktoria Alme, 53, recalled always wishing she had been born a woman who was paralyzed from the waist down during a recent interview with Good Morning Norway.
She remembered being in elementary school when another student turned up one day with a splint on his leg and crutches.
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"My heart pounded, my pulse increased and I was activated in my body. I was incredibly focused on him and what this was all about," Alme said. "As I understand it in retrospect, it was a recognition of the situation and that it was I who should have been there."
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Five years ago, Alme came home with a wheelchair despite not needing one, shocking her wife Agnes. "I didn't know what it would do, but I had a very 'aha' experience when I got to sit in that chair," Alme said.
"When my legs are allowed to rest completely, it stops the triggering of the [body integrity identity disorder], so I get a lot of rest and can use my resources for other things."
Body integrity identity disorder, also known as body integrity dysphoria, is a rare disorder characterized by "an intense and persistent desire" to become physically disabled.
Years before buying the wheelchair, Alme said she realized that despite being born a man, she felt like a woman and wanted to be paralyzed from the waist down.
Now, she uses a wheelchair to get around unless she has to walk for practical reasons, such as to get on and off planes.
"I hope that no one takes it badly that I use the wheelchair as an aid because it helps me," she said when asked about how people might react to her situation.
She added that she doesn't use any resources for disabled people. "For example, I do not use handicap parking, because I have no use for it in my situation," she said. Alme could not be reached for further comment.
Her story sparked a backlash, with Twitter users including some who are disabled themselves sharing their outrage.
"This is so insulting. I'm a wheelchair user," one user wrote. "I went through excruciating pain with spinal & neurological damage. It's not a joke & this to me is mocking me & others who've suffered awfully."
Alme's story was discussed during a segment on Britain's GB News, with Shaun Bailey, a former London mayoral candidate, saying: "It's insulting. If you really are disabled and it's made your life tough in every way, you must watch that report and be so offended."
It also caught the attention of German politician Georg Pazderski, who tweeted that in the past, Alme "would have ended up in a psychiatric ward."
Mumsnet users were also angered in a thread on the forum, with one commenting: "Some of us have to use a wheelchair all of the time and can't opt out."
However, some commenters were sympathetic to Alme's situation.
"Yes, it's strange and difficult to understand. It's probably also very provocative for actual wheelchair users! But there is a diagnosis behind it, here! Mental illness is real, even if it sometimes seems completely incomprehensible," one Twitter user wrote.
Another user replied: "I am a wheelchair user and also have walking function. Jørund V. Alme uses the wheelchair as the aid it is. There is nothing provocative about it to me. If a wheelchair can help with mental disorders, it just makes me happy. Everyone deserves peace of mind and body."
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