$this->request->data EMPTY - When I have disabled Fields CakePHP 2

$this->request->data EMPTY - When I have disabled Fields CakePHP 2

I have a form which has some disabled fields, when the form is submitted
both $this->request->data and $_POST is empty, removing the disabled
fields and it is fine again. I would have though it would still pass
though the non-disabled fields. I've even tried to remove the disabled
field attribute when the submit button is pushed but this still returns an
empty array.
Is there something cake related that might be causing this?
Thanks