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A woman was permanently blinded with the help of a psychologist after she claimed to have been diagnosed with a condition which left her feeling as though she should have been born disabled.

Jewel Shuping, from the US state of North Carolina, had long desired to be born blind, and admitted she was now how she was "supposed to be born".

It remains unclear whether the psychologist who assisted in carrying out the blinding faced any consequences.

Jewel has since spoken publicly about her experience in a bid to raise awareness of the condition.

Now living as a fully blind person, she has stated she is happy that her lifelong dream has finally been realised.

According to the Independent, Jewel was diagnosed as a child with Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID).

The condition is psychological and causes those who suffer from it to believe that, despite being in perfect health, they should have been born with a disability, reports the Daily Star.

Jewel, now 41, had longed to become blind from an extremely young age, harbouring fantasies about losing her sight even during childhood.

She recalled that at just six, she would spend hours staring directly at the sun, desperately hoping it would rob her of her eyesight.

As she grew older, her yearning to be blind intensified. By the time she reached her teenage years, Jewel had already begun conducting herself as though she were blind, venturing out wearing thick black sunglasses and purchasing a walking cane at the age of 18.

By the age of 20, Shuping was already fluent in braille - the tactile writing system used by blind people, comprising raised dots that represent letters and words.

Throughout her early adult life, she claimed she was "blind-swimming", feigning blindness in a bid to live out her deepest desire.

"The idea kept coming up in my head and by the time I was 21 it was a non-stop alarm that was going off," she admitted.

It was at this point that she began exploring ways to permanently rob herself of her sight and fulfil her vision.

After years of searching, in 2006, she claimed she tracked down a psychologist who was prepared to pour drain cleaner into her eyes to help her achieve blindness.

The psychologist is believed to have first numbed her eyes by pouring eye drops into each eye, before putting two drops of drain cleaner.

Reflecting on the ordeal, she described the experience as agonisingly painful as her sight began to fade. She went on to confirm she was officially blind after six months, with no vision remaining beyond that point.

The identity of the psychologist remains unknown, as does whether they faced any prosecution for their part in blinding her.

Shuping is now sharing her harrowing story to raise awareness of BIID and to encourage those struggling with the condition to seek help. BIID, a psychological condition first identified by Dr Michael First, is believed to impact exceptionally small segments of the population. Generally, the disorder concerns body parts and the yearning for limbs such as arms and legs to be removed.

The condition can even provoke envy amongst sufferers towards those possessing the disability they so intensely crave.

A possible explanation for the disorder is that "the brain is not able to provide an accurate plan of the body", suggesting that their functioning body parts feel "foreign and not actually part of the person, thus the desire to have it removed".