wow, what an very interesting discussion .. it touches on so many issues.
These fragments seem to summarise the issue:
Papa wrote:
Here is the question i pose; If today you were totaly cured of incontinence - would you have any problem wearing and using a diaper for any specific reason?
Sandy wrote:
That is an interesting thought pappa has. I have a hard time even imagining life without a diaper

I'm thinking I would have no problem with the convenience idea being I've been in them most of my life anyway

................................Sandy

johnstone wrote:
Wearing and using diapers "soley" for convenience is not a medical reason requiring someone to wear diapers for protection. That said,....there is a physical and/or mental need to wearing diapers.
Like Sandy, I have also never experienced what it is being dry (apart from that I hardly ever wet when awake). I can hardly imagine what it would be like.
I'm really trying to find the right words here .. it is really odd having to define yourself in terms of something that is outside of your own experience.
The best that I can describe how I feel about using diapers is that there are somehow two separate areas in my mind about this. One is about the outside world: how I feel about my bedwetting towards others .. including worries that some people might find out, feelings of failure (mainly as a child), etcetera. This where all the worrying and fretting takes place.
The other part is internal: how do I feel about myself? I have noticed that this is a very different area of mind (if that makes any sense). I can't even say that I really think all that much about this. I just *am*. Maybe that's another reason that it is so hard to explain.
Even if I feel absolutely lousy because of something that happened: say, someone rejected me because of my bedwetting: that would hardly filter through to the inner part. I will feel bad about it, maybe even horrible. But it won't damage my self-image / feeling of self-worth (I think of that part as my "core").
What I'm trying to say is that bedwetting / using protection doesn't impact my core. That core is still the same as it ever was, and somehow I seem to question the fact that my bladder control regularly takes a couple of nights off just as little as infants do. It doesn't enter "the worrying zone" because it is part of my core.
Wearing a diaper in a bedwettingw period just feels sort of cozy or snug or comfortable.
I can relate VERY well to how Sandy describes it in page one of this topic.
One of the reasons that I was so upset about the disposables that I got when I grew out of the child sizes is that they had something "serious" and "problematic" about them. You know: I just thought that something quite similar goes for regular undies. Until you're about 14 you can get underwear in all sorts of cute or funny colours and prints, but after that it is almost as if the colour saturation is turned all the way down. No more cute pink or flowery panties but black, white or - worst of all - skin coloured. Well, I exaggerate a bit, but somehow the playfulness seems taboo beyond that age. After that it is either boring or "sexy".
So I am happy that I now have some alternatives to "standard white". I don't fancy those rumpa pants - too frilly / fussy to my taste .. but I'll definitely go find myself some cute girly coloured ones even if it's just to compensate for those years of yucky hospital-green disposables.
Papa wrote:
What irony that the ones who have the greatest affect on the design (fasion, absorbancy, look, type, etc.) of diapers are NOT the ones who have to wear them. It goes to the heart of the debate. We who have no choice about wearing diapers and should be at the leading edge of speaking up - sit back and hope others will speak for us. We are embarassed. We are embarassed to talk to manufacturers and designers and distributers because we are ashamed of admitting we have to wear and use diapers. We even avoid buying and using a better product or one we might enjoy wearing if it seems like it might cast us as a Diaper Lover or an Adult Baby. This board is important because we can talk, vent, scream, discuss and pass on information that can help us emotionally, economicaly, comfortly, personaly, etc. Does it really matter if good advice comes from someone who is AB or DL? The discussion is important and keeping the Adult Baby/ Diaper Lover talk in line keeps this board where it should be. But admitting your feelings and saying you feel like that part time or all the time is honest discussion because I believe it is how most here feel at times. We need to talk about ALL our feelings. Papa
That's very well said .. as in many other posts here as well. I cannot relate to everything that I read .. I have never been ashamed, for one thing. I just don't talk about much because I know how some people think about it and I don't want to have to continually be confronted with that. But I did feel alone, especially in my teens.
I am really glad that I found this forum!
PuddleGuy wrote:
I would consider myself a relatively active member of the AB/DL community and I can't stand a lot of the others. There is a huge lack of maturity, intelligence and taste within the community... most of the boards are filled with garbage and flat out lies, and the moderators don't seem to care.
When I first found out about the existence of ab/dl I was VERY puzzled as well. But over time I became more active on the internet, and have been involved with a number of forums and communities about all sorts of things .. ADHD, open source software, .... If there is one that I learned is that one eejit can ruin things for hundreds of others.
I think that every non-moderated forum will therefore eventually be run over by trolls or other .. (must censore myself here a bit) .. morally challenged persons.
It is somewhat unfair that one of those persons can do so much damage. Much more than in real life, because they realise that there are no real penalties for their behaviour.
Sandy wrote:
Yep people today that are just entering into the incontinence world have no idea how good they have it. Wouldn't it had been great back in the 70's to have what we have today

.....................Sandy

Or in the 80's

!!