Is being fat a disability??
Replies
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My daughter has TBI and left side paralysis, she was on disability when she was younger, the only reason she was on disablity was because that was the only way she could get medicaid. Then on a annual assessment they decided that she wasn't disabled anymore because we made too much money. The lady at the SS office told me that I needed to quit my job if I wanted my daughter to remain on disablitly. I have a family of 8, I pay a little over $900 a month in insurance. We pay out of pocket $15,000 a year on her medical needs. I'd love to meet the people that are milking the system in my state, I'd beat their *kitten* and have them teach me how to do it, lol.
Its not my daughter lol. I think you are the people that blows my mind about....so because of the money you make...she isnt disabled anymore??? I know money can do a lot but how does it cure paralysis?? Brylie has not existing issues from her "condition" so why should be get a check?? Maybe if they dr would have said, yes she is going to have to have X amount of surgeries over the next X years, it would be worth it for the medicaid, but that wasnt the case. I have a friend whose son has a serious heart conditon and cant work and they cant get disability, they keep going back to the jobs he had BEFORE the heart condition that would possibly kill him now. It amazes me....0 -
I should have said the depression thing differently,BUT I do stand behind my words about this person. I have sat next to her for 14 yrs and I know that she had to go through counseling and was not clinically depressed(this came from her). For HER, it is an excuse...
She could be telling you a story because she's afraid you'll mock her if she tells you she sees a psychiatrist and/or is on medication for it. She might be getting a vibe that you think she's weak and doesn't need to give you any more ammo to use against her.
Hell, based on the OP's follow up comments, I'd be afraid to tell her anything personal, I know I'd get mocked asap.
Seriously.
I'm not super fat, but if I were to need to use a scooter at some point (post surgery or something unrelated to weight), people like OP would make me feel awful!
There's apparently nothing worse than being caught "scootering while fat".0 -
Humanity is a personal thing. It's about personal choices, not the choices of another. If you get lung cancer and someone offers you aid, it's because they are a decent human being, and not because you deserved to be treated with decency.
Yes, but my point is, in my view, there are others who do deserve that aid and empathy. There's not a surplus of assistance in the world today, and it should go to the woman who got breast cancer for no other reason than she's a woman and has boobs, before it goes to someone like me who made a conscience choice to do something stupid.
So what exactly are you saying is that even though there are people who don't judge you for your personal choice that they should. I'm sorry, but that's not how human decency works. Give without judgement, care without judgment, and love without judgment.
Where does that put respecting one's wishes? If assistance was an infinite resource, I'd probably concede this point, but there's only so much to go around. Again, in my view, people who need this assistance due to no fault of their own deserve this assistance more than someone like me who would be in the position due to a conscience choice.
What about me? I started smoking when I was 15. I stopped when I was 24.
I'm 42 now, and haven't smoked in almost two decades. My risk of lung cancer is close to what it would have been if I had never made the juvenile decision to pick up a cigarette. I don't pay more for my insurance because I never had insurance when I was smoking.
If I got lung cancer, should I be treated or not treated?
Remember, I'm the main financial support for two preschoolers, and cancer treatment is well beyond the means of the average person.
Judging another person's choices is so complex that it's better just to look at the resources and the benefits and make your decisions without going into the history.0 -
Having a rather serious, sometimes debilitating medical condition that no one can see, I'm just going to say I wish people would stop making assumptions about people in general, and specifically about their abilities.
+1
...and i'll add that for 10 years I disabled myself by not exercising. my chronic pain got so bad in that time that I tried to kill myself. only after I hit rock bottom in this way did I start doing what everyone (drs espesh) told me to do: exercise, stupid! it's the most effective tx for fibromyalgia! (also the most effective tx for something else IYKWIM) now that I am exercising regularly, my condition is only sometimes debilitating. for this reason I put myself squarely in the same camp with others who could vastly improve their health/quality of life if they only exercised IYKWIM.
so, how much shame should I feel for having formerly disabled myself?? and that's not sarcasm, by the way. I really feel like some degree of shame is appropriate in my case. I had a great deal of control over my condition, and I completely abdicated it for an entire decade.
I don't think you should feel shame at all. It's hard to pull yourself together when you're in almost constant pain (pain is a big part of my condition, too - only the only fix for it is brain surgery). I'm sorry you've had such a rough time of things.0 -
But you did doubt my conviction on what I would do should the situation arise. That's your opinion, based on zero knowledge of me, which is why I said it is irrelevant (I should have added, "to me"). As for selfish, what is selfish about not wanting to burden my family with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills? What is selfish about not wanting my kids around a hospital bed while their father is coughing up blood and dying? It's not that I'm ready to punch my ticket; it's that I want my family to be able to get on with their lives as soon as possible, with as little burden and/or trauma when that time comes. If that's selfish, then I guess I'm a selfish *kitten*.
Suicide is pretty traumatic on a family.
Speaking as someone who's father put a bullet into his head when I was still in my early 20's, I find it asinine that someone would compare dying from cancer to suicide in this manner.0 -
I know somebody who ended up with lung cancer and never smoked a cigarette in her life.
How would you know that your lung cancer was a direct result of your smoking?
Anecdotal evidence aside.....
1) No form of cancer runs in my family
2) I smoked for over 20 years
While I don't know the in's and out's of being able to pinpoint the exact cause of a cancer, what would be more likely:
1) I got lung cancer out of the blue?
2) I got lung cancer because of the carcinogens I was putting into my body for all that time?
Looking at populations, people who smoke are more likely to get lung cancer than people who don't smoke. Looking at you, I don't know whether it was the cigarettes or the asbestos in your grade school.0 -
But you did doubt my conviction on what I would do should the situation arise. That's your opinion, based on zero knowledge of me, which is why I said it is irrelevant (I should have added, "to me"). As for selfish, what is selfish about not wanting to burden my family with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills? What is selfish about not wanting my kids around a hospital bed while their father is coughing up blood and dying? It's not that I'm ready to punch my ticket; it's that I want my family to be able to get on with their lives as soon as possible, with as little burden and/or trauma when that time comes. If that's selfish, then I guess I'm a selfish *kitten*.
Suicide is pretty traumatic on a family.
Speaking as someone who's father put a bullet into his head when I was still in my early 20's, I find it asinine that someone would compare dying from cancer to suicide in this manner.
My mom's been suicidal since I was 17. At least with cancer, I wouldn't feel as if I could have done or said something differently to prevent it.0 -
You are so silly. Of course we still do. My neighbor's job is to schedule hearing tests for preschoolers. Human society isn't at 100% and it will never be, but we help each out in innumerable ways.
Some people have their act together. As a societal whole though, we don't. Otherwise we'd vote in different people, and there wouldn't be a group of the country squawking like gulls over refugee children.
Our society isn't 100%, we're not even 60%, but there is potential to fix that.0 -
But you did doubt my conviction on what I would do should the situation arise. That's your opinion, based on zero knowledge of me, which is why I said it is irrelevant (I should have added, "to me"). As for selfish, what is selfish about not wanting to burden my family with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills? What is selfish about not wanting my kids around a hospital bed while their father is coughing up blood and dying? It's not that I'm ready to punch my ticket; it's that I want my family to be able to get on with their lives as soon as possible, with as little burden and/or trauma when that time comes. If that's selfish, then I guess I'm a selfish *kitten*.
Suicide is pretty traumatic on a family.
Speaking as someone who's father put a bullet into his head when I was still in my early 20's, I find it asinine that someone would compare dying from cancer to suicide in this manner.
Yep. People are a tad less judgy about cancer. They might even sympathize.0 -
I know somebody who ended up with lung cancer and never smoked a cigarette in her life.
How would you know that your lung cancer was a direct result of your smoking?
Anecdotal evidence aside.....
1) No form of cancer runs in my family
2) I smoked for over 20 years
While I don't know the in's and out's of being able to pinpoint the exact cause of a cancer, what would be more likely:
1) I got lung cancer out of the blue?
2) I got lung cancer because of the carcinogens I was putting into my body for all that time?
Looking at populations, people who smoke are more likely to get lung cancer than people who don't smoke. Looking at you, I don't know whether it was the cigarettes or the asbestos in your grade school.
I'm going to get it from sniffing all those smelly markers in middle school.
(I quit smoking about a month and a half ago. Pack a day for ~7 years. I was up to 1.5 pack/day when I quit.)0 -
Yes, if a person arrives at one or more of those conditions, they do have a disability. However, if the reason they got lung cancer was from smoking; lost their legs playing chicken with a train, do we, as a society, owe them the same level of empathy and or assistance that we have for those who are disabled through no fault of their own?
Yes.
That's not even a question. Morally and legally.
We'll have to agree to disagree there. As a former smoker, should I develop lung cancer in the future because of it, I do not want, nor do I think I deserve empathy and assistance from society. I was stupid for smoking in the first place. Stupid shouldn't be rewarded.
Rewarded would mean given a good thing.
Being helped out with cancer - that's so the opposite of a good thing that I'm a little baffled.
Look at it this way.....you help me with my lung cancer, the lung cancer that I got because I made a stupid decision in my teens; a stupid decision that kept making for 20+ years, because you're a good person. However, in doing this, you may be taking resources and/or time away from another person suffering from a cancer that they got not from making a stupid decision, but because sometimes bad things happen to people. In my view, it is that person who deserves your time and effort, not me. "Reward" might not be the best word to use there, but I hope the above conveys what I was getting at.
Luckily, we're not a Randian society. We're better than that.
When someone in society suffers, we all have the potential to be impacted. A man who needs money for his life saving medications will fall to theft to survive. That's his fault for his actions, but a significant societal failure that he was pushed to that. The stupidity of a decision notwithstanding, without belaboring examples, economically and socially it behooves us to ensure that these folks are cared for.
It's a matter of empathy and taking a long view on social issues, which is something we don't do or have anymore. *shrug*
:drinker:0 -
I think that in very extreme cases that being fat can cause disability.
But being fat in itself is not a disabilty.0 -
You are so silly. Of course we still do. My neighbor's job is to schedule hearing tests for preschoolers. Human society isn't at 100% and it will never be, but we help each out in innumerable ways.
Some people have their act together. As a societal whole though, we don't. Otherwise we'd vote in different people, and there wouldn't be a group of the country squawking like gulls over refugee children.
Our society isn't 100%, we're not even 60%, but there is potential to fix that.
I don't know. I look at history. I look around the world. And 60ish% seems to be the comfort level for human suffering.0 -
I would however agree that depression is not an acceptable excuse for obesity.
Someone should smack you for this statement.
That's like saying that someone who has post-traumatic stress disorder is not an acceptable excuse for anxiety.
Or saying that ADHD is not an acceptable excuse to do poorly in school and that person is perfectly capable to keep control over it without any help at all.
You people make me sick. It's no wonder there are so many mentally unstable people slipping through the system and going on wild shooting rampages. It's because everyone else is going "oh, they're fine. they should ust snap out of it and behave like a "normal" human being."
FFS.
1+ lets slap that person together.
People and there close minded views.0 -
By that definition, a sprained ankle or even a broken bone would appear to be a disability. That's a really simplified definition.
Not that this is relevant to obesity, but I feel like it is important to point out that the ADA recognizes temporary disability if the individual is impaired for six months or longer.
So a sprained ankle or broken bone could be considered a disability IF the injury is serious enough.0 -
But you did doubt my conviction on what I would do should the situation arise. That's your opinion, based on zero knowledge of me, which is why I said it is irrelevant (I should have added, "to me"). As for selfish, what is selfish about not wanting to burden my family with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills? What is selfish about not wanting my kids around a hospital bed while their father is coughing up blood and dying? It's not that I'm ready to punch my ticket; it's that I want my family to be able to get on with their lives as soon as possible, with as little burden and/or trauma when that time comes. If that's selfish, then I guess I'm a selfish *kitten*.
Suicide is pretty traumatic on a family.
Speaking as someone who's father put a bullet into his head when I was still in my early 20's, I find it asinine that someone would compare dying from cancer to suicide in this manner.
I don't think avoiding treatment is suicide, either. It's why I strongly believe in voluntary euthanasia. A terminally ill person should absolutely be able to set the terms for his or her death. And the trauma on the family is likely going to be very different as there are no "why" questions and internal blame for family members. IMO, of course.0 -
To the man judging his "lazy" neighbor, how about you? You know her so well, why not try including her? Does it make you folks feel good about yourselves to speak about others with such righteous overtones? Grow up already.
I include her as little as possible. I tolerate her because my wife doesn't have as big of an issue with her as I do. As I stated before, being fat and lazy is only one of her problems....she is a sack of s**t. She games the welfare system, she was/is a s**ty mother (two of her three kids are in prison). She's had numerous dogs taken away because she'll just open her front door to let them do their business, and some people have been bitten (not to mention she leaves the dog crap all over the place). I could go on and on. Why? Because I know this woman. I'm not generalizing about everyone, I'm speaking of one person that I know.
As for growing up, do you know me, or this woman? Nice to meet you, kettle.
You are judging by what you see, You don't really know this person do you. You would be surprised what is really going on to her.0 -
The OP either gave up or is trying to back squat 160 lbs to see what its like.
Crap. Now she's hurt her back and we're all going to have to pay for her choices when she stops being able to work because of it.
Oh that's cute. Well, I have a bad back, too. I inherited it, much like wealthy people inherit the family trust fund, but without the lavish lifestyle.
So with people like you crying in the workplace, I wonder, should I just go ahead and plan for a potentially disabled future now by taking up bank robbery? Or maybe vacation homes are a better target?0 -
Is being overweight a disability? No
Can being overweight cause you to gain a disability directly related to just being overweight? Yes.0 -
If being fat is a disability, why not give all fat people handicap stickers on their cars so they don't have to walk as far? Give them all tax-payer funded disability checks and wheelchairs and stair lifts in their houses so they don't have to move as much?
People think that their poor health choices make them deserve pity and special treatment from everyone else. The term disability is being used too loosely and it's insulting to people with legitimate disabilities. Why should all the scooters in grocery stores and all the handicap parking spaces be taken by someone who could use the little bit of extra exercise, when an 85 year old war vet or someone with an illness/disorder (cancer, CF, CP, etc.) needs it more? Come on people, have some responsibility for yourself and your choices.
(I'm talking about BEING fat, as in choosing to scoop up your half gallon of ice cream with twinkies while watching entire seasons of tv shows on netflix in one sitting fat. NOT fat as a side effect of another REAL disability.)0 -
If being fat is a disability, why not give all fat people handicap stickers on their cars so they don't have to walk as far? Give them all tax-payer funded disability checks and wheelchairs and stair lifts in their houses so they don't have to move as much?
People think that their poor health choices make them deserve pity and special treatment from everyone else. The term disability is being used too loosely and it's insulting to people with legitimate disabilities. Why should all the scooters in grocery stores and all the handicap parking spaces be taken by someone who could use the little bit of extra exercise, when an 85 year old war vet or someone with an illness/disorder (cancer, CF, CP, etc.) needs it more? Come on people, have some responsibility for yourself and your choices.
(I'm talking about BEING fat, as in choosing to scoop up your half gallon of ice cream with twinkies while watching entire seasons of tv shows on netflix in one sitting fat. NOT fat as a side effect of another REAL disability.)
well aren't you a ray of sunshine.0 -
What about me? I started smoking when I was 15. I stopped when I was 24.
I'm 42 now, and haven't smoked in almost two decades. My risk of lung cancer is close to what it would have been if I had never made the juvenile decision to pick up a cigarette. I don't pay more for my insurance because I never had insurance when I was smoking.
If I got lung cancer, should I be treated or not treated?
Remember, I'm the main financial support for two preschoolers, and cancer treatment is well beyond the means of the average person.
Judging another person's choices is so complex that it's better just to look at the resources and the benefits and make your decisions without going into the history.
Should YOU, or anyone else, be treated is not what I'm discussing here. I'm saying that someone who develops cancer due to nothing they did wrong deserves to have assistance before ME. That is how I feel. I am the main financial support for a wife and two kids (the third has been on his own for a couple of years now) and knowing this, I have a butt load of life insurance. I pay through the *kitten* for this insurance because of my smoking, but the premium is supposed to go down once I hit the 5 year, smoke-free mark. I do this because I know my past decisions put my family at risk.
This is going nowhere, and judging ME for my beliefs about things oh how I want to deal with MY life is not something I'm going to care about.0 -
The OP either gave up or is trying to back squat 160 lbs to see what its like.
Crap. Now she's hurt her back and we're all going to have to pay for her choices when she stops being able to work because of it.
Oh that's cute. Well, I have a bad back, too. I inherited it, much like wealthy people inherit the family trust fund, but without the lavish lifestyle.
So with people like you crying in the workplace, I wonder, should I just go ahead and plan for a potentially disabled future now by taking up bank robbery? Or maybe vacation homes are a better target?
I was being sarcastic, pointing out that accidents can occur from all kinds of choices.0 -
I've suffered from depression my entire life. I fight with it daily. What did I turn to in order to make me feel better? Food. Delicious, horrible, foods. Sugary, salty, carby, and nonstop. I could eat an entire pizza to myself. Why? To hide from the pain. To hide from what was inside even as it clawed its way up my throat and spilled out, regardless of what I did.
What did this cause? For me to become fat. The friends who told me that I was beautiful and perfect the way I was didn't help, even though I know they thought they were. I was/am FAT.
That is not my disability. Being depressed is. Obesity and being fat are SYMPTOMS of disabilities and diseases, not a disability or a disease by itself.
As for the discussion as to whether or not someone has say over their own life... it's ALL selfish. That's what life is. Someone wanting to give up and die is selfish, but so is the wife who wants him to live because she doesn't want to be left alone. We're ALL selfish. There is no such thing as a pure action. This is what it means to be human. We AFFECT each other.0 -
I would however agree that depression is not an acceptable excuse for obesity.
Someone should smack you for this statement.
That's like saying that someone who has post-traumatic stress disorder is not an acceptable excuse for anxiety.
Or saying that ADHD is not an acceptable excuse to do poorly in school and that person is perfectly capable to keep control over it without any help at all.
You people make me sick. It's no wonder there are so many mentally unstable people slipping through the system and going on wild shooting rampages. It's because everyone else is going "oh, they're fine. they should ust snap out of it and behave like a "normal" human being."
FFS.
1+ lets slap that person together.
People and there close minded views.
I admit. I made this statement. I did not fully expound on it because I was focused on the other issue in that post. I wrote like 3 long paragraphs about the topic and closed with the one sentence, and that is what you chose to rail at. My bad.
What I mean is that depression, while debilitating for some, is not directly related to obesity, as the case with thyroid conditions, and therefore, should not be considered as a contributing factor towards determining the eligibility for disability. If the person is depressed and also addressing mobility issues, then I would consider these two separate, unrelated disabilities. But to simply say "I binge eat when I'm feeling down and now I am obese" is not an acceptable rationale when determining eligibility for disability.
Surely, it can be concluded from this thread that obesity should be considered a disability on a case-by-case basis. Which I do believe is exactly how it is handled so this thread is basically pointless.0 -
According to the Social Security Administration, being "fat" is not a disability.0
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What about me? I started smoking when I was 15. I stopped when I was 24.
I'm 42 now, and haven't smoked in almost two decades. My risk of lung cancer is close to what it would have been if I had never made the juvenile decision to pick up a cigarette. I don't pay more for my insurance because I never had insurance when I was smoking.
If I got lung cancer, should I be treated or not treated?
Remember, I'm the main financial support for two preschoolers, and cancer treatment is well beyond the means of the average person.
Judging another person's choices is so complex that it's better just to look at the resources and the benefits and make your decisions without going into the history.
Should YOU, or anyone else, be treated is not what I'm discussing here. I'm saying that someone who develops cancer due to nothing they did wrong deserves to have assistance before ME. That is how I feel. I am the main financial support for a wife and two kids (the third has been on his own for a couple of years now) and knowing this, I have a butt load of life insurance. I pay through the *kitten* for this insurance because of my smoking, but the premium is supposed to go down once I hit the 5 year, smoke-free mark. I do this because I know my past decisions put my family at risk.
This is going nowhere, and judging ME for my beliefs about things oh how I want to deal with MY life is not something I'm going to care about.
The thing is, your choices about you carry over into whether you feel that other people deserve social help.
At the 5-year mark, would you choice about seeking treatment change? After all, the reason why the insurance goes down is because the likelihood of any disease being smoking-related drops.0 -
If being fat is a disability, why not give all fat people handicap stickers on their cars so they don't have to walk as far? Give them all tax-payer funded disability checks and wheelchairs and stair lifts in their houses so they don't have to move as much?
People think that their poor health choices make them deserve pity and special treatment from everyone else. The term disability is being used too loosely and it's insulting to people with legitimate disabilities. Why should all the scooters in grocery stores and all the handicap parking spaces be taken by someone who could use the little bit of extra exercise, when an 85 year old war vet or someone with an illness/disorder (cancer, CF, CP, etc.) needs it more? Come on people, have some responsibility for yourself and your choices.
(I'm talking about BEING fat, as in choosing to scoop up your half gallon of ice cream with twinkies while watching entire seasons of tv shows on netflix in one sitting fat. NOT fat as a side effect of another REAL disability.)
You sound like you're a bit of *kitten*.0 -
NO!!0
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The OP either gave up or is trying to back squat 160 lbs to see what its like.
Crap. Now she's hurt her back and we're all going to have to pay for her choices when she stops being able to work because of it.
Oh that's cute. Well, I have a bad back, too. I inherited it, much like wealthy people inherit the family trust fund, but without the lavish lifestyle.
So with people like you crying in the workplace, I wonder, should I just go ahead and plan for a potentially disabled future now by taking up bank robbery? Or maybe vacation homes are a better target?
I was being sarcastic, pointing out that accidents can occur from all kinds of choices.
Oops, sorry!0
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