How did you guys find out you were a dev?

[Dani]

I found out I was a dev later in my life; I was almost forty. I don't have any significant memories from my childhood, but now I know I was always a dev. I just didn't know when I was young what it is. We didn't have access to all the information like nowadays. There were things back then that I now know were the indicators of my being a devotee, but again, I didn't know these things back then. We didn't have computers and cellphones, it was a very different time. So, since you are so young, it's incredible that you already know this about yourself; all doors are open for you.

To make a long story short, for me, everything started with a movie I saw in a movie rental place, "Quid Pro Quo". Very weird movie, but the girl on the cover is lounging in a wheelchair, and it caught my eye. I rented the movie soon after, and it triggered lots of strange feelings in me. In the movie, they mention "devotee," and I started researching on the Internet and thus began a difficult journey of my being a devotee. It was very painful at times, and it's been difficult, but here I am, still a devotee, smarter, older, and more knowledgeable about a lot of things, what I want and how I want to proceed.

[ayla]

Started with books and TV when I was younger. I was always drawn to the disabled characters and sought them out, used disability themes in a lot of my play and my imaginings. I met a girl my age on vacation who was a wheelchair user and thought she was so cool, but my parents acted so weird around her. That's when I remember I started to get a lot more secretive about things. I was maybe 7 or 8 at that time? As a teenager I knew I had special, intense feelings of interest about disabled characters but it didn't make sense to me that those "special feelings" were sexual attraction until I was in my early 20s. I was so busy trying to figure out if I was gay or straight that I completely overlooked the most prominent feature of my sexuality: my devness.

[em]

I'm not sure exactly how I found out anymore, perhaps I discussed it earlier on the forum, can't recall. I think I found out via finding this forum and the website and putting it all together. Like others, I used to be fascinated by seeing PwD (or actually I was mostly fascinated by people who would e.g. break a leg and walk on crutches for a while, I always dreamed of trying out crutches without having to actually break a leg), and I used to make up a lot of stories about all kinds of accidents and injuries that would befall my made up characters. I found out about BIID first, and I thought that I had it for a while (because of the aforementioned desire to try out crutches), and only when I became sexually active I understood that there is something sexual about it for me, and that it's not about my own body so much. But I still don't fully understand what it is about tbh.

[Jcat1024]

I really realized it as a preteen when Avatar came out and I lost my s**t. Growing up my sister accidentally cut off our male polly pocket doll and we had a little wheelchair from a hospital set that was from there on his accessory and my sister knew that I always wanted him.

[feelsunshine]

I also have early childhood memories that I saw wheelers on TV for example and was intrigued. I remember watching an old "Heidi" movie for an unbelievable amount of times. In "Heidi" is a girl in a wheelchair. I didn't like the character but I was fascinated by the fact that she was not walking. And, I believe I once saw a trailer for "The Waterdance" on TV, or maybe my parents skipped through the channels and this movie was on.... This could be possible (I just checked the release date: 1992) I was around 6 years old back then.
So, yes, I've known for a long time that I am more interested in people in wheelchairs instead of the walking folks. However, similar as to what Dani said, the world wide web was not as full with data as it is today. I didn't even have any access to a computer until I was around 14 years old. And god forbid, I hadn't dared to try to do research on wheeler stuff back then. Being afraid of catching a virus or accidentally driving my parents phone costs up by accidentally accessing a porn website whatsoever...
2012 - when I was 26 years old, I was in my first apartment on my own and I bought my first two wheeler DVDs. "Gran Paradiso" and a German movie called "Die Zeit die man Leben nennt"
The first time that I actively came to the idea to search in the web if there are people with similar attraction was in 2019 when I found PD.

[Deleted]

Sept 13, 2022 20:57:26 GMT -5 ynnyng said:

Sept 13, 2022 20:00:12 GMT -5 ayla said:

Started with books and TV when I was younger. I was always drawn to the disabled characters and sought them out, used disability themes in a lot of my play and my imaginings. I met a girl my age on vacation who was a wheelchair user and thought she was so cool, but my parents acted so weird around her. That's when I remember I started to get a lot more secretive about things. I was maybe 7 or 8 at that time? As a teenager I knew I had special, intense feelings of interest about disabled characters but it didn't make sense to me that those "special feelings" were sexual attraction until I was in my early 20s. I was so busy trying to figure out if I was gay or straight that I completely overlooked the most prominent feature of my sexuality: my devness.

It’s interesting to see how others were introduced through some sort of media through books or television

I actually haven't thought about "the media" but probably you're right. In my case I have had acquaintances/friends with a disability since I was a child, so... I guess for me it was normal to feel some sort of attraction. Maybe that's why it is all blurry in my mind and I cannot recall exactly the moment, where I could have notices it myself.

But... one good day, one of my acquaintances asked me directly: "Are you aware of the fact, that you like disabled people?". Oops! I was so shocked/embarrassed, that I stopped talking to him for a while. But well... if somebody asks me, how did I notice it, I would answer: "I didn't notice it.... I was told so"

[ayla]

I don’t think “the media” made me a dev, I think that was just the only outlet at the time. I think it’s a psychological thing. For me (a lot of us?) one of the main aspects is the contrast between masculine/vulnerable, strong/weak, overdeveloped/underdeveloped that exists for a man in a disabled body. If I’d grown up in a bubble, or I some utopian future/alt reality, and never heard of disability I think the same underlying feeling would be there just for some other type of contrast or internal tension. But in this reality (lol), disability is what my young mind latched onto, in the media, as psychologically satisfying.

[ayla]

Sept 17, 2022 9:24:59 GMT -5 ayla said:

I don’t think “the media” made me a dev, I think that was just the only outlet at the time. I think it’s a psychological thing. For me (a lot of us?) one of the main aspects is the contrast between masculine/vulnerable, strong/weak, overdeveloped/underdeveloped that exists for a man in a disabled body. If I’d grown up in a bubble, or I some utopian future/alt reality, and never heard of disability I think the same underlying feeling would be there just for some other type of contrast or internal tension. But in this reality (lol), disability is what my young mind latched onto, in the media, as psychologically satisfying.

And furthermore I think this is true for everyone’s attractions and preferences, not just devs. We all find something psychologically satisfying in our younger years and it forms the kernel of our later turn-ons.

[hjfundus]

Sept 13, 2022 12:41:36 GMT -5 ynnyng said:

I’m a little curious. How did you guys find out you were a dev?
I just faintly remember I was always interested in people with crutches and leg casts. Something about it seemed interesting to me. Eventually I remember reading a book with a main character being paralyzed from the waist down and using a wheelchair. Eventually from then on I was more attracted to paraplegia 

Same as most people here it seems. There was a friend I had when I was about 3 who broke their leg and I was fascinated by it. I drew plaster casts on photos of myself to be like them. Crutches was part of that. Broken arms, glasses, teeth braces. There was a book I got when I was about 8 where the main character had spina bifda. It talked about her dragging herself out of bed. Colin in The Secret Garden. Clara in Heidi. There was a tv show when I was 9 about a wheelchair basketball team. Another show where a character had epilepsy. I was just so intrigued and felt a pull to this content. Played with my grandparents walking sticks a lot. Tried on their old glasses. Then as someone else said - Avatar (2009) was a big one. I had a physical reaction in my body to Jake's character. (I also had a similar one when someone told me the person I had a crush on had epilepsy). Ever since then I searched out films and media with disabled characters. At some point I started googling and found out it had a name.

[ParaDevGuy]

From a very early age I remember being fascinated by casts. My brother played a lot of sports and would frequently injure his limbs, causing all sorts of casts. I was jealous of him for those casts.

Later in life, I really, really began to be way more attracted to paralyzed guys. Watching them transfer or wheel themselves around was, and is, so hot. Their bodies, paralyzed, are beautiful. Wonderful things to see and admire.

[ichbin]

I found out I was a Dev when I was in my beginning 30ies and found PD on the internet.

However, I noticed since childhood that disability did something to me that was not social-conform, so it's not that I started being a Dev in my 30ies. I just found out that there is a term for it and - most importantly - that there are other people on this planet who feel the way I do. (up to that point I had thought I am the absolute only one and can never ever tell anybody about it)

[abqman]

I met a woman who had Cerebral Palsy at a place where we both worked. She always wore these tight jeans which often exposed her thong. I started to flirt with her and we became close friends.

One day she was telling me how hard it was for her to find dates, and even masturbate because of her disability. I offered to help her out.

It started off with just playing with her.Rubbing and fingering her pussy. She really was really into it. When she came she would spasm so hardcore, I have always been more interested in making my partner come, then myself. Eventually we became more intimate, moving onto oral an intercourse.

[scottishgaydevotee]

I'm into bdsm/kink. A guy hit me up on grindr who was in a wheelchair. I was nervous at first about the disability. but went with it. He was super hot and fun - and I loved tying him up in his wheelchair on my second visit. Been exploring the dev scene since.

[iliakis00]

Sept 13, 2022 12:41:36 GMT -5 ynnyng said:

I’m a little curious. How did you guys find out you were a dev?
I just faintly remember I was always interested in people with crutches and leg casts. Something about it seemed interesting to me. Eventually I remember reading a book with a main character being paralyzed from the waist down and using a wheelchair. Eventually from then on I was more attracted to paraplegia 

hello, i think it started at a very early age but i couldn’t really recognise it since i was a child, it started because my babysitters sister was a paraplegic. Once a week she brought me to her sisters housing hospital and i was there for a few hours.
when i was a bit older it just skipped my mind that i could search for paraplegic porns and I did….Since then im complete dev.
hope that answers your question.

[iliakis00]

hello, i think it started at a very early age but i couldn’t really recognise it since i was a child, it started because my babysitters sister was a paraplegic. Once a week she brought me to her sisters housing hospital and i was there for a few hours.
when i was a bit older it just skipped my mind that i could search for paraplegic porns and I did….Since then im complete dev.
hope that answers your question.