As the topic states: Do you think that obesity counts as a legitimate disability?
It's a pretty big deal in employment law according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and they count it as such under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act. For all intents and purposes it would make sense that it does count as a disability, as they are technically disabled by definition (physical impairment or lack of physical functioning). But I just can't help but disagree with the notion. Especially considering how I know many people and I'm sure many of you might as well, who eat themselves into that situation. They're literally eating and drinking themselves into being disabled, and they get counted among those who are actually medically obese. That's just wrong to me.
Here is a humorous article about the subject:
Obesity: A Disability or a Lack of Responsibility? | We Are People 2
Thoughts?
Yes, it's a disability. Self-induced but yes. Someone walking into a job interview weighing 400 lbs isn't getting hired. I have a now deceased friend who was morbidly obese.
- Fat as hell
- So fat he couldn't shower and perform other sanitation procedures properly because there where parts of hs body he couldn't reach. He smelled horrible and his only option was to shower as best he could and mask the stench with fragrances.
- He was too fat to fit behind the wheel of many cars, especially those in his price range thus limiting his employability since he did not have access to reliable transportation.
- I got to know him through church where he volunteered for a ministry I was involved with. Churches tend to be more accepting of people and athough there was resistance to bringing him on board as a volunteer due to body odor and realiability related to tranporation, his persistsnce eventually conveniced that department to allow him to serve. To their surprise, he ended up inadvertantly destroying several well built chairs and sofas in under a year on top of the foul odor he left behind every weekend.
A really intelligent guy but with an addiction to food and got up to 560lbs. He eventually was declared legally disabled and despite initial resistance, his doctor convinced the social security administration to cover gastric bypass surgery.
In less than a year he'd gotten down to 350 lbs and got a job. Still huge but tremendous progress considering where he was.
He died of a brain aneurism about 5 years after the surgery I think brought on by undiagnosed hypertension since after going back to work he no longer had health coverage.
His problems with obesity started as a child of a single mother who qualified for nutrition assistance. I think there's a psychology of poor people where they lack the resources to splurge on themselves and their families, something all of us like to do occasionally. The poor can't take vacations, buy a lot of new clothes or get their kids a new game console. What they can do, thanks to food stamps is eat like there's no tomorrow, which is their only splurge. My friend had a huge 2 or 3 lb block of processed cheese delivered to his house every week. What stared out as an after school grilled cheese sandwich, turned to 2 sandwiches, then 3 then the whole block of cheese in one afternoon. He was always given hearty meals, encouraged to have seconds and always clean his plate.
If I were the President I'd take the First Lady's healthy nutrition campaign to heart and expand the non-eligible food stamp items list to include no sugary food, no cooking oils/fats of any kind, only whole grains, nothing processed and only lean meats. In fact, I might even include a recommended shopping list and recipies pamphlet. Some of the most obese people in America are food stamp recipients and we've convinced ourselves its compassionate to provide the means by which they're sending themselves and their children to an early grave.