Earliest Dev thoughts...

[xana]

I didnt have any vivid fantasy when I was but my earliest dev memory was when i was aboout 5 years old. I was very bosy when I was a child. so I would set the rules when we played. I would make my friends pretend they couldnt walk so that I would carry them around and take of them.( I wasnt a doll kind of gir and even if you had dolls these were kept its package and hung on the wall). But my little pretend game came to an end when my friends threatened to tell their mum about it.

So I reined it in but it wasnøt for long then I started making little stories you know the fairytale but with my kind of hero. I even had a little book of my little stories after my sister found that. I decided to keep my little fantasies in my head. thats me

[ruthmadison]

Your sister found your stories? Oh, that's scary. When I was young I wrote all my stories in code (an Egyptian hieroglyphic for each letter of the alphabet). I was so paranoid that someone would read what I was writing.

One day, when I was around twelve, my mother said, "If you're going to spend all that time writing, you have to share it. It's selfish to write only for yourself."

She is now the most bothered by my work.

ETA: Sorry, that's off topic. Ya'll already know my first dev memory!

[Emma]

While I realized I was sexually attracted to amputees at an older age I always had a strong interest in all types of medical differences, disabilities, etc. I think some of you have heard this already but I'll share since I'm sure others are interested.

When I was around 3 or 4 (I'm guessing because I remember not being able to read yet) my mom shared with me an article in the local newspaper about a girl around my age who was born w/o arms and legs. I was so interested in that article she cut it out for me and I remember carrying it around for a while until my Mom expressed confusion about why I liked that article of all other newspaper articles. Even then I knew my interest was not normal. I remember looking at the one picture a lot wishing there were more pictures.

I also didn't play with dolls so never did the make Ken disabled game. I actually didn't like any pretend games but always would join in if there was some good doctor/injury game especially if there was a cool fake cast to use.

[dentelle]

First memory I do have is me playing with a new friend, a boy, named Ralph. I can't remember how old I was. I made him pretend he was in the hospital for some odd reason. 1976, I was 8 and got a doll family called the Sunshine Family. I used to play the father couldn't walk. I also remember not letting anyone else know I played like this. I did when I was older with my Barbie dolls with a couple of my friends. They did not like to play dolls like this and made me make the dolls get better. I did make them better, but it kind of made me angry.

[devogirl]

OMG the Sunshine Family! My best friend had those when we were little. Unlike Barbies, they had jointed arms and legs. She threw hers at the ceiling, and the legs broke off the grandfather doll. I became obsessed with that one, always wanted to play with him, even though he was old and had white hair. Wow, thank you for reminding me, I would never have remembered the name.

I think my earliest memory is of lying in bed, probably 4 years old, explaining to myself that I liked thinking about people with "problems" (I didn't yet know the words handicapped or disabled). I was a strange child. And yes, I too was constantly playing doctor, bandaging my dolls, making my friends pretend to be injured, etc.

[Peony]

Oct 29, 2011 20:48:05 GMT -5 lucretia said:

I also had a huge interest in all things medical. When I was in 6th grade I had a friend's doctor father cast my leg for April Fool's. It was a great prank... until I couldn't get up off the floor after a reading circle thing. It was the first time I ever got in trouble for swearing in class...

This made me chortle!

[Peony]

My clearest memory (both the memory itself, and being able to remember it) was in school assembly when I'd just started (so I would have been 5). There was this senior kid who was dreamy. I remember thinking so hard that I wanted him to be in a wheelchair. I think why I remember it so clearly is the intensity and focus of the thought, the awareness that I was thinking something 'secret', and also the weird physical sensation, which in a lot of ways hasn't changed. Kind of a visceral, warm metallic feeling in my gut (the immediate feeling, anyway).
I was also more of a blocks and fort gal, so no doll memories for me, but all the usual medical-type games (I wanted to be a doctor then a physio for a long time as well).

Cool thread : )

[Dani]

An old resurrected thread, cool...
It's so weird because I don't remember anything specific. I just know that I was always interested in kids or people who were different somehow. I wanted to play with the disabled kids in our neighborhood and sought out their company.
I used to write a lot already as a teenager, and when I read these stories now, I can see that I was definitely already a devotee. Somehow my male characters always had problems, physically or psychologically. I also made up stories in my head while lying in bed at night, and it was the same thing; the males always had to "deal" with something difficult or challenging.
I also remember that three of my most intense crushes had broken a leg at one time or another, and I was so into it. I was very shy and not a popular girl or anything. I was the girl that no one saw, so I didn't actually "date" these guys but just crushed on and adored them from a distance, and when they broke their leg and had to be in a cast, I think it definitely ingrained in me and something happened or manifested then. I keep joking with my husband, who also broke his leg in Football when he was like sixteen. I told him that I would have totally crushed on him then.
I also remember watching shows on TV and being fascinated with disabled characters when there were any.
But I don't remember having anyone in my closest circles who was disabled, like no relatives or anything, just kids in town, and I wanted to hang out with them.

[anonymitea]

Ooh~! This is an interesting thread!
I guess my earliest dev memories were around when I 4-5 years old. My mom would make me read to her. Among the books I read her were classics like The Secret Garden, Heidi, Pollyanna and The Christmas Carol. Characters like Collin, Clara or Tiny Tim were always fascinating to me (I wasn't the biggest fan of Pollyanna though 😅)

Then at some point during childhood I saw the movie adaptations (and owned some of them) and I remember continually rewinding and rewatching their scenes.

The interest in disabled characters never waned, and at some point during highschool and uni, I learned about devotees. A cursory search didn't exactly paint them in a savory light, so I kind of just tried to ignore this part of myself. It's not until recently that I decided to explore it; which lead me here 😊