Is Being Fat A Disability?

serena569

"Being fat is hard, losing weight is hard, remaining slim is hard. Choose your hard"

Love this!

That being said - I don't believe obesity is a disability. I was seriously injured in a car accident almost seven years ago. My lifestyle and activity level changed but I did not adjust my eating habits. My injuries are what disabled me not the choices I made after.

SPBROOKS68

Basically, becoming and staying fat is a result of the choices someone makes. To eat this packet of sweets, watch TV instead of going for a walk, eat those chips, or whatever - the daily choices that everyone has in the first world. People don't chose the things that lead to true disabilities - cerebral palsy, learning difficuties, blindness, arthritis - they are due to accidents of birth or accidents of life.

"Being fat is hard, losing weight is hard, remaining slim is hard. Choose your hard"

Amen to this - I have had diabetes since age 6 but people who get type 2 seem to have more complications because of their weight and diet. My son thinks that "fat people" should not get handicap parking spaces and gets mad when they take up all the spaces and his mom who has neuropathy and addison's disease has to walk more since this causes my blood sugar to drop rapidly.

dfborders

Morbidly obese people are not necessarily disabled. I am not morbidly obese any longer but am still considered obese (which is why I am here). However, when I was morbidly obese (just about 300 pounds) I could still do everything my friends could do - perhaps not as fast or for as long but if I had to take the stairs - I could darn well do it - I may have had to take breaks every couple of flights but it could be done. With that being said, I believe the extreme morbidly obese person (clarification - someone who can't get out of bed, can't get through doors, can't walk more than a few feet, etc.) is disabled. Are they disabled because of their choices - yes and (possibly) no. Should they receive disability benefits - like the person who has MS or has had a stroke, etc. - no. I think, however, that they should receive benefits so long as there are stipulations - one of them being not only do they have to start exercising and eating properly but they have to have counseling - I truly believe that most people that are extremely morbidly obese have a mental disorder. You can tell them all you want to exercise and eat healthy and they can want to - but they won't be able to do it without proper support (i.e. professional medical support). This support would be part of the disability benefits.

yoovie

So, the may have a disability at this weight but if they change things they can reverse it - unlike people who have a spinal cord injury or a brain injury which can't be reversed by any change in behaviour.

This is a good point.

It begs the question should a new term be created for the obese that have limited mobility?
Such as, RD or Reversible Disability.

It would make a clear distinction between the temporarily disabled and the permanently disabled.

No we have a word. Its called obese.

According to my BMI, I am "obese"-- i am 160, strong, and not only can function very well (thank you very much) but I am very active.

I think "obese" is thrown around too casually, especially in the BMI chart.

Actually, the BMI chart is thrown around too casually - being that its wrong 80% of the time. Im also well overweight according to that pos.

fiveohmike

In 99.999999999% of cases, fat should not be considered a disability to get free tax money thrown at.

In 99.999999999% cases, fat is a choice.

yoovie

So, the may have a disability at this weight but if they change things they can reverse it - unlike people who have a spinal cord injury or a brain injury which can't be reversed by any change in behaviour.

This is a good point.

It begs the question should a new term be created for the obese that have limited mobility?
Such as, RD or Reversible Disability.

It would make a clear distinction between the temporarily disabled and the permanently disabled.

No we have a word. Its called obese.

It's not a good point. People can be temporarily disabled. If you get into a car accident and break both legs you are disabled from doing your job as a tow truck driver. The disability is temporary, but still a disability.

Being injured on the job due to an accident is a temporary disability.
Being unable to move around your house because you 'ate away' (latin: obsesus) your life =/= disability.

If depression lent itself to your weight gain - then depression is your disability.
If your thyroid is a mess, then THAT is your condition.

Obesity is a condition and a symptom - I will totally allow that it is a medical condition.
But a disability? dream on if you think my taxes are going to support your awful decisions.

yoovie

Basically, becoming and staying fat is a result of the choices someone makes. To eat this packet of sweets, watch TV instead of going for a walk, eat those chips, or whatever - the daily choices that everyone has in the first world. People don't chose the things that lead to true disabilities - cerebral palsy, learning difficuties, blindness, arthritis - they are due to accidents of birth or accidents of life.

Not necessarily. There are many self inflicted disabilities. COPD due to smoking for example. Or disease due to a bad diet in someone who is thin. Even self inflicted injuries.

If someone becomes disabled because they chose to drink and drive, isn't that self inflicted?

if someone becomes disabled because they drank and drove, they can cry all they want, they wont get an ounce of sympathy from me.

laus_8882

Chin up, most people really aren't in the position to pay the sort of tax that would support even a day's worth of living for dole bludgers and lazy fatties. My ex once estimated his annual tax bill to be more than what a few dozen people of average wage contributed each year. Strangely, paying such an exorbitant amount of tax didn't seem to bother him all that much - to be fair though, he used a few schemes to knock a bit off, but not a huge amount. Now Joe Blow on 50k a year with a wife at home and three young kids who was effectively paying zero tax once family benefits kicked in... heck, those guys just can't shut up about what they want their nonexistant tax dollars to be spent on.

STFU1234

I liturally created an account just to reply to this, some of what you are writing is actually a pee take, I don't think some of you actually understand what it is like to be fat...
You get disgraceful looks from idiots who can't accept you for who you are, fat people are bullied, bulling can cause depression, so don't for a second think that all fat people do it to themselves, this is not the case...
Now I know I'm not the most active of people, I have just started walking my friends dogs everyday, been at it for about a month now with no results... I left the gym for the same reason, don't tell me I don't try, because I have and I still am tring, 4 years now and I've only lost a stone and gained 2 inches height
And it is not down to what I eat, I am the most healthist good food eater that I know, I eat healthier than my buddy who is a PT, surpising huh?
I don't care for mc donalds, wtf is that, dirtty rotten meat that sprayed off the bone, are you mad? Why would I want to eat that no thankyou! I'd rather a fresh chicken breast sliced up on a lovely fresh green salad
So there's my PT buddy grabing kebabs KFC etc and me making my own chicken salad
And you tell me that being fat is a choice? I tell you, you are wrong! I choose to be slim, I eat healthy, I rotate the types of excersise I do, yes, I could do more, but I have a busy schedual, I don't drive, I walk wherever I need...
Now I'm a smoker cigs and weed, yet I can still walk for hours....
For me being fat has not been a choice, it just is what I am, and I've had to learn to deal with it, shiz when I was at the gym I was there from 10am to 4pm everday, my choice is to be slim, I won't ever give up till I get there
But anyone who tells me I chose to be this way can eat my fricken poop

EatClenTrenHard

lol fat people already put so much strain on healthcare budget, putting healthier people with legit problems at risk(longer wait times. etc..)

now if they could also claim disability benefits then....

we would all go bankrupt.

oh and also disabled parking would be used by them too, making legit disable people walk farther distances from parking.

am i gonna get my 2nd strike on MFP for posting the truth?

MemphisKitten

If a person cannot function due to obesity, then yes, it is a disability. The government "regulates" all this junk food and makes sure that huge food corporations who chemically and genetically alter our food are making giant profits and are quick to shoot down anyone who tries to point out why so many people are struggling with obesity, so it's my opinion that the government should give the obese who cannot walk or otherwise function normally compensation in the form of Disability payments.

vanessaclarkgbr

This is semi-related, but yesterday on my drive home I heard a radio host talking about how that he would rather sit on a plane next to a dead person than to sit next to a fat person.

So, there is a social aspect to being fat that does hinder people as well a physically limiting them. However, I think most overweight people (99%) can change their situation, whereas I consider a handicap or disability to be something beyond your control that you have to learn to deal with.

In typing this, though, I have thought of another situation: what if I decided to cut off my legs? This is a choice I made for some reason. Would I be considered disabled/handicapped from then on? Not trying to hijack, but my mind wanders!

I would rather sit next to a dead person than him, or hack my own legs off.

vanessaclarkgbr

I liturally created an account just to reply to this, some of what you are writing is actually a pee take, I don't think some of you actually understand what it is like to be fat...
You get disgraceful looks from idiots who can't accept you for who you are, fat people are bullied, bulling can cause depression, so don't for a second think that all fat people do it to themselves, this is not the case...
Now I know I'm not the most active of people, I have just started walking my friends dogs everyday, been at it for about a month now with no results... I left the gym for the same reason, don't tell me I don't try, because I have and I still am tring, 4 years now and I've only lost a stone and gained 2 inches height
And it is not down to what I eat, I am the most healthist good food eater that I know, I eat healthier than my buddy who is a PT, surpising huh?
I don't care for mc donalds, wtf is that, dirtty rotten meat that sprayed off the bone, are you mad? Why would I want to eat that no thankyou! I'd rather a fresh chicken breast sliced up on a lovely fresh green salad
So there's my PT buddy grabing kebabs KFC etc and me making my own chicken salad
And you tell me that being fat is a choice? I tell you, you are wrong! I choose to be slim, I eat healthy, I rotate the types of excersise I do, yes, I could do more, but I have a busy schedual, I don't drive, I walk wherever I need...
Now I'm a smoker cigs and weed, yet I can still walk for hours....
For me being fat has not been a choice, it just is what I am, and I've had to learn to deal with it, shiz when I was at the gym I was there from 10am to 4pm everday, my choice is to be slim, I won't ever give up till I get there
But anyone who tells me I chose to be this way can eat my fricken poop

Nice trolling

amymflorez

There was a time when I would have said no, because you can control it. But my perspective has changed a lot recently. I spent 28 days in a treatment center this August for alcoholism.... and I learned a lot about addiction in general. Whether it be drugs and alcohol or food.

The way it was put to me once was, if someone held a gun to your head and said "if you drink that I'll shoot you." You can choose not to drink it. Same thing with eating right? But what the person holding the gun doesn't know is that you're thinking "It's ok, I can drink it later," or "don't panic, just wait for him to leave," or "I hope the alcohol hits my brain before the bullet does."

If only those around us knew the struggle we deal with. It's not as black and white...

EatClenTrenHard

If a person cannot function due to obesity, then yes, it is a disability. The government "regulates" all this junk food and makes sure that huge food corporations who chemically and genetically alter our food are making giant profits and are quick to shoot down anyone who tries to point out why so many people are struggling with obesity, so it's my opinion that the government should give the obese who cannot walk or otherwise function normally compensation in the form of Disability payments.

people choose to eat, and overeat it. education is out there. it is well known issue.

just..

lazy fat people

Koldnomore

First let me say that I have read the article as well as all the posts before mine. I have said this before - I think on the last thread that was talking about this..

With respect to the article...

I think that claiming to be 'disabled' and expecting the monetary compensation that comes with that is delusional not to mention incredibly dis-respectful to individuals who are actually disabled. Now, I can agree that someone who is severely obese and/or possibly housebound is UN-able to do things due to their size but being UN-able to do things due to size is NOT the same as a disability. I can't shop in 'normal' stores, I may not be able to run long distances, I can't get on some rides, I can't fit in a lot of places that someone who is smaller would be able to but that does not mean I am DIS-abled, simply UN-able. The distinction is important. Yes, someone who is 600+ lbs is going to be UN-able to do many more things than someone who is 300.

Obesity is completely preventable AND curable and even if no one decides "I'm going to be obese" the choice NOT TO ACT is just as much a choice to remain obese as having made the choice in the first place. Some people have medical issues which make it hard to control weight..it's still a choice NOT to try. There are enough people around here with every weight gain related medical issue who ARE losing weight because they have made that choice..As much as it sucks the choice to continue to take a medication which causes weight gain is also a choice - the alternative being death is obviously not a *popular* choice but it IS a choice. Likely this fact will not make me popular with many people but I gave up caring a very long time ago - that was also a choice :P

Having a DIS-ability means that some outside factor has caused a condition from which there is NO recovery. I don't believe that someone who chose to disable themselves in some way should be able to claim compensation (ie. alcoholics, drug addicts, someone who chooses to drink and drive and causes an accident which cripples them) Your choice, your problem. I am a cold heartless B*itch.

Is being stupid a disability?

That is also a choice. The choice to open your mouth / type before engaging your brain - I have no sympathy for stupid people either.

I think, however, that they should receive benefits so long as there are stipulations - one of them being not only do they have to start exercising and eating properly but they have to have counseling - I truly believe that most people that are extremely morbidly obese have a mental disorder. You can tell them all you want to exercise and eat healthy and they can want to - but they won't be able to do it without proper support (i.e. professional medical support). This support would be part of the disability benefits.

Short term help would be appropriate for many situations (drug use, ED, mental health issues etc..)but I wouldn't call it DISability benefits. "Social assistance" may be more appropriate.

cassie1317

It can be very debilitating if you let it get to that point. When it comes to not being able to do small things that others take for granted I would say your weight is a disability.

Dad_of_3

In 99.999999999% of cases, fat should not be considered a disability to get free tax money thrown at.

In 99.999999999% cases, fat is a choice.

^^^^^^^ I'm a fat guy and I approve this message.

ksloop00

Being fat or obese is NOT a disability! It's a choice. I have Spina Bifida and am confined to a wheelchair, I had no choice in the matter. I've been paralyzed since birth.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

I'm interested in the part where she says that she sees her body as "in its natural state" and that there's nothing wrong with being fat. But then she seems to say that she should be considered disabled. I am disabled, and I would never argue that there is nothing wrong with my body. It seems a little odd.