I've been following this forum for a while, but finally decided to join and share my first public pretending experience that I had yesterday.
I used a fake hook prosthesis. Given the weather, I was able to wear it under a sweatshirt and a loose wind jacket, and I decided to go for a walk to a park which is not crowded during the weekday afternoon. The feeling and rush of emotions of being out in the public as an "amputee" is very hard to describe. A lot of self-consciousness and worrying, but an amazing feeling when people look at you. I came across about 10-12 people. Some just strolling, some biking or jogging. For sure I noticed some extra attention and one woman did kind of a double-take when she got closer :) My main worry was to look "authentic" and that my hook arm looks slightly longer and "unnatural" (besides having a prosthetic hook on it already), so I tried to sort of lean more on my other foot to try to disguise the arm length a bit (not sure if that is a good trick, hard to picture how I looked from someone else's perspective). I even practiced using the hook a bit to open and close my backpack :) One scary moment was at the end of the 1 hour walk, when I got into my car and was ready to leave, all of a sudden I notice two police cars right behind me! My first thought was - "Crap, could it be that someone mistook my hook for something else and called the cops? What if they start questioning me?" Luckily, after a few seconds they just left for an emergency, but it was a funny/scary moment and for sure there is still lot of worries in my head about pretending, such as someone recognizing me, etc..
Here is one of the few decent photos I was able to take of myself. I welcome any feedback/suggestions/tips you guys may have for a "newbie" pretender. I'm now excited to try another public pretending with maybe a different arm prosthesis, or no arm at all, or an AK/wheelchair (already have the equipment for it), and to go out in more crowded places (mall, downtown). By the way, I live in Canada and I'm interested in meeting up to go in public together, exchange suggestions, or just talk and become friends.
Robot,you look pretty legit if I saw that. And honestly I don't think the length matters so much as normal people wouldn't probably have any idea what a supposed lenght of hook or a pros should be anyway. But you could always try and put the healthy hand in your pocket. That way they don't see the comparison.
With the cops...hahaha, well you never know. Metal hand chips be misconstrued as a weapon. Are you a triple wannabe? Where I'm Canada? I'm a DAK wannabe. Or at least a SAK.
