My [26/F] friends [20s/F] keep accusing BF [25/M] of being "disabled". It's driving a wedge between all of us.

I have been dating David for 8 months. David and I met at a grad school mixer - he was finishing law school and I am in the middle of a graduate degree. We hit it off jointly complaining about workload and a lack of a social life. We quickly realized that we had a lot in common and a strong mutual attraction. We went from friends to boyfriend/girlfriend pretty quickly and have been dating since March.

David makes no secret or hides the fact that he lost his left leg when he was 10. He is open about the circumstances around the accident and is very funny and often prosaic about it. He doesn't walk with a limp and plays sports, is an avid swimmer and enjoys long walks. If you didn't know he'd lost his leg, his gait would never give it away.

Friends from my department are studying disability studies. Every time they see David, all they can talk about are his injury and how his disability impacts his everyday. He very clearly said he wasn't disabled and is in good shape, has no mobility issues and doesn't think about it. This sort of irked them as it undermines their research. To him a disability is something that limits and impairs you, and he's neither.

Friends have recommended therapy for him to help him "adjust" and understand that he is disabled. I've told them to stop. Stop recommending therapists, stop telling him what he is. They feel they are helping him and that they're doing nothing wrong. He now refuses to spend time with them - he thinks they use disabilities like a crutch and has limited patience for that. I find myself spending more and more time with his friends most of whom never mention his leg - unless it's to ask him to take it off and hit someone with it.

My friends were there for me for years. I never really had friends growing up and this is such a departure for me. I feel terrible that I'm dropping them, avoiding spending time with them and finding excuses why I can't see them.

I want to keep them in my life but I can't seem to get through to them. 8 months into this relationship and I know it's very soon, but I don't want to give him up for my friends. How can I convey to them what they're doing and why I'm leaving them behind?

tl;dr friends are obsessed with BF's prosthetic leg and his "disability." It's driven a wedge between us and I am choosing BF over friends. How can I convey to friends they're driving us apart?

Submitted November 05, 2018 at 09:22AM by shit_I_screwed_up https://ift.tt/2PEw921