ABSTRACT
In 1992, I met a rotund, bearded, psychedelic biker who had a deformed hand with only two vestigial fingers. Sometimes he wore a prosthetic but often he did not, especially when he performed weird puppet shows for the kids. The puppeteer’s name was Bandit and he was an accomplished sound engineer, computerist, and motorcycle mechanic. His hand had been “different” since birth, so he had made a number of artificial attachments for it. There were special ones for working on machines, for handling electronics, for riding his hog, and for partying. Bandit had an interesting theory about prosthetics and the disabled. He had observed that people born without limbs or parts of limbs had a very secure relationship to their prostheses. The prosthesis was not something they resented; it was a part of them that was all the more interesting because it was removable, adjustable, and interchangeable. In Bandit’s experience, people who had suffered traumatic amputations had much more trouble accepting and appreciating their prostheses.
