Obesity: A Protected Class?
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I've always struggled with my weight, but a debilitating 2+ year illness had me housebound and isolated and able to do little more than lay in bed or sit on the couch. I couldn't stand up for long, so I made fast meals and quick snacks and rushed through the grocery store when I got up the strength to go, and admittedly did not make healthy decisions about food. I lost my job and my illness isolated me from friends and family and I became severely depressed. Not sad. Clinically depressed (and it wasn't my first experience with that either). I was so anemic from constant blood loss, I barely had the energy to heat up my food.
You know what isolated me even further? The fact that when I did go out people treated me with no respect. They made assumptions about me because I was fat. They assumed I was just lazy when the fact is, I was sick.
When I started getting better, I knew I had to take action, so I started walking at my local park. It was torture. Not just because my back hurt and I was out of breath, but because of the way people looked at me. Some even made negative comments right to my face.
Now, I'm eating right and getting outside for walks almost every day and am down almost 30 pounds. But ya know what? I'm still fat. And I'm still gonna be fat a few months from now. I've got 100 more pounds to go. I don't expect special treatment because I'm fat, but it sure would be nice to think that I won't get passed over for a job just because a long physical illness and bout of depression lead to significant weight gain.
To those of you who have always had your health and nutrition under control, good for you. Really. But you can't judge a person by the weight they carry, you have no idea what lead to it, and unless you see them regularly binging, you have no idea if maybe... they just lost 30 pounds and are working hard on the next 100.0 -
I cannot see how anyone could enforce a policy like this anyway? People judge others based on a variety of things. How could anyone prove that they were fired based on being obese unless they became obese after they were hired? Interesting conversation. I think discrimination of any kind is wrong but it is the employers ultimate decision and who knows why they are making the decisions they make unless they are stupid enough to spout off the reason being obesity.0
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The problem is - this is all should/shouldn't happen talk, when really it's what does/doesn't happen that matters.
I SHOULD be able to leave my door open because people SHOULDN'T steal my belongings. However, I know that's not realistic so I lock my door.
People SHOULDN'T judge people based on their appearance, but you know what; people always WILL, so it makes sense for individuals to look at themselves to find the solution.
Stop always looking elsewhere for the solution, always trying to change how the bad people behave. The ability to change your situation is held by you.
To quote MJ - "Take a look at yourself and make that....*key change*...CHANGE!"0 -
I see. It was just frustrating because as far as I can tell, we didn't actually disagree about anything emotive. Only about what the law does and doesn't say, and we don't even have an underlying clash about what it should say. I mean if that can't stay as friendly as it would do face-to-face, what would happen in an abortion or death penalty debate round here?!No apology, UsedToBeHusky? You did kind of imply I'm too lazy to use Google, twice.
Reading carefully enough to notice the difference between an amendment to an Act, and completely separate legislation that follows the example of said Act in a highly selective, weak-sauce way, is not lazy.
Actually, I did attempt to post something in response. Not an apology, but an admission. Something happened with my internet connection and I resolved to let the issue go.
I work for government. I have also worked in private sector. Discrimination against LGBT has always been a 'no-no' to the best of my knowledge. If the laws aren't firm enough, then I suggest that the LGBT community focus their efforts on that fight for equality.
I didn't set out to derail the thread with the LGBT issue, I just think it's always worth pointing out when American discrimination law comes up, and the 'choice' issue invariably comes up with it, that if 'choice' were always a determining factor in what is included, then religion wouldn't be in there. I contrasted this with the fact that LGBT people are left out (largely because of some people's belief that it's a choice) to demonstrate how inconsistent the discrimination debate has been for decades and still is. Either the choice issue matters, or it doesn't. As I explained, my opinion is that it doesn't, hence that particular argument against protection for fat people does not wash with me. The subsequent derailment was unintentional.
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I've always struggled with my weight, but a debilitating 2+ year illness had me housebound and isolated and able to do little more than lay in bed or sit on the couch. I couldn't stand up for long, so I made fast meals and quick snacks and rushed through the grocery store when I got up the strength to go, and admittedly did not make healthy decisions about food. I lost my job and my illness isolated me from friends and family and I became severely depressed. Not sad. Clinically depressed (and it wasn't my first experience with that either). I was so anemic from constant blood loss, I barely had the energy to heat up my food.
You know what isolated me even further? The fact that when I did go out people treated me with no respect. They made assumptions about me because I was fat. They assumed I was just lazy when the fact is, I was sick.
When I started getting better, I knew I had to take action, so I started walking at my local park. It was torture. Not just because my back hurt and I was out of breath, but because of the way people looked at me. Some even made negative comments right to my face.
Now, I'm eating right and getting outside for walks almost every day and am down almost 30 pounds. But ya know what? I'm still fat. And I'm still gonna be fat a few months from now. I've got 100 more pounds to go. I don't expect special treatment because I'm fat, but it sure would be nice to think that I won't get passed over for a job just because a long physical illness and bout of depression lead to significant weight gain.
To those of you who have always had your health and nutrition under control, good for you. Really. But you can't judge a person by the weight they carry, you have no idea what lead to it, and unless you see them regularly binging, you have no idea if maybe... they just lost 30 pounds and are working hard on the next 100.
:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:
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I agree with you. By making it a protected class, you're giving up and saying it's not their fault, when in most cases it *is* their fault. I'm not saying it's easy to change, but it's possible. Hell, it wasn't easy for me to get up at 6am this morning and workout, or to say no to all the crap food that comes my way, but I do it. And as a result, I'm getting in better shape, I'm stronger, and I feel much better. I think making this a protective class is a mistake, because in most cases, obesity is a symptom, not a condition. (ie, symptom of eating like crap and not exercises, or even a symptom of a thyroid problem. In either case, it's the result of something else; it's not itself a root condition.)
"I am healthy and active everyday, if I can do it, obviously everyone else in the world should be able to think and achieve those things just as easily. All humans are the same and have had the same life experiences and challenges that I have had. Brains totally work that way! They want to be fat, those lazy ****s! Put down the twinkies and take a run."
Fixed that for you, lets not beat around the bush about how you really feel about obese people. Im so tired of these passive aggressive fat bashing answers. Just come out and say it.
Thank you so much for this. I have been meaning to post a rant about the whole condescending "If I can do it, you can do!" claptrap. I HATE when anyone says that... :grumble:0 -
I see. It was just frustrating because as far as I can tell, we didn't actually disagree about anything emotive. Only about what the law does and doesn't say, and we don't even have an underlying clash about what it should say. I mean if that can't stay as friendly as it would do face-to-face, what would happen in an abortion or death penalty debate round here?!No apology, UsedToBeHusky? You did kind of imply I'm too lazy to use Google, twice.
Reading carefully enough to notice the difference between an amendment to an Act, and completely separate legislation that follows the example of said Act in a highly selective, weak-sauce way, is not lazy.
Actually, I did attempt to post something in response. Not an apology, but an admission. Something happened with my internet connection and I resolved to let the issue go.
I work for government. I have also worked in private sector. Discrimination against LGBT has always been a 'no-no' to the best of my knowledge. If the laws aren't firm enough, then I suggest that the LGBT community focus their efforts on that fight for equality.
I didn't set out to derail the thread with the LGBT issue, I just think it's always worth pointing out when American discrimination law comes up, and the 'choice' issue invariably comes up with it, that if 'choice' were always a determining factor in what is included, then religion wouldn't be in there. I contrasted this with the fact that LGBT people are left out (largely because of some people's belief that it's a choice) to demonstrate how inconsistent the discrimination debate has been for decades and still is. Either the choice issue matters, or it doesn't. As I explained, my opinion is that it doesn't, hence that particular argument against protection for fat people does not wash with me. The subsequent derailment was unintentional.
The difference is that the OP was referring to obesity as a physical disability being protected under Americans with Disabilities Act. The argument is that it is commonly accepted that, unless physiological factors are involved, obesity is a choice. Whereas, the debate over homosexuality as a choice is still being argued. The ADA addresses unavoidable physical handicaps. The homosexuality issue is a civil rights issue. Unless you want homosexuality considered as a handicap, I don't see how the two are comparable (which was my point).0 -
There is one cause of fat gain that is never mentioned and it surprises me that it wouldn't be known about in a country with such a massive rate of it.
Psychiatric medications! I'm not hating, I take one with more stigma than most in fact and defend that medication to the hilt. My point is that a massive proportion of Americans take them, and everyone knows that weight gain is a hugely common side effect of the most common ones, antidepressants. Antidepressants are used for a huge range of mental illnesses and even a few physical ones in the US. How they cause fat gain is unproven, so we don't know whether it affects the storage of fat or the behaviour of the person taking them. But it's often very drastic and the numbers affected are very drastic.
Antidepressants aside, anti-PSYCHOTIC drugs and mood stabilisers are even worse for weight gain, they often make people go from thin to clinically obese in an alarming amount of time, and as around 1% of the population has schizophrenia, and many more on top of this have bipolar disorder, autism or another problem treated with these drugs, you end up with, I'm guessing, at least 4 in every 100 Americans on anti-psychotics or mood stabilisers, on top of the even larger percentage on antidepressants.
The big problem here is the stigma: people who say they have a medical reason for their fat problem are often dismissed on the basis that very few people are known to have a glandular or untreated thyroid disease. However, when was the last time you heard someone say "my fat gain started and won't shift ever since I started taking lithium"? People don't like to admit it because of the stigma, and that disguises the fact that many people who are large frankly have much bigger problems to deal with than their weight: they are being pleaded with by society to take their medication so they won't get forced into a mental hospital or hurt themselves or others, but when they DO take them, usually giving themselves a range of other horrible side effects as well, they get fat-shamed by ignorant people who say "most fat people just eat too much!"0 -
There is one cause of fat gain that is never mentioned and it surprises me that it wouldn't be known about in a country with such a massive rate of it.
Psychiatric medications! I'm not hating, I take one with more stigma than most in fact and defend that medication to the hilt. My point is that a massive proportion of Americans take them, and everyone knows that weight gain is a hugely common side effect of the most common ones, antidepressants. Antidepressants are used for a huge range of mental illnesses and even a few physical ones in the US. How they cause fat gain is unproven, so we don't know whether it affects the storage of fat or the behaviour of the person taking them. But it's often very drastic and the numbers affected are very drastic.
Antidepressants aside, anti-PSYCHOTIC drugs and mood stabilisers are even worse for weight gain, they often make people go from thin to clinically obese in an alarming amount of time, and as around 1% of the population has schizophrenia, and many more on top of this have bipolar disorder, autism or another problem treated with these drugs, you end up with, I'm guessing, at least 4 in every 100 Americans on anti-psychotics or mood stabilisers, on top of the even larger percentage on antidepressants.
The big problem here is the stigma: people who say they have a medical reason for their fat problem are often dismissed on the basis that very few people are known to have a glandular or untreated thyroid disease. However, when was the last time you heard someone say "my fat gain started and won't shift ever since I started taking lithium"? People don't like to admit it because of the stigma, and that disguises the fact that many people who are large frankly have much bigger problems to deal with than their weight: they are being pleaded with by society to take their medication so they won't get forced into a mental hospital or hurt themselves or others, but when they DO take them, usually giving themselves a range of other horrible side effects as well, they get fat-shamed by ignorant people who say "most fat people just eat too much!"
Very little proof demonstrates weight gain as a side effect of psychiatric medicines. Weight gain is only identified as a potential side effect because it is reported by the patients. However, correlation does not equal causation, and proof does not exist that weight gain is a direct effect of beginning a new medication. Some anti-psychotics, such as Risperdal, have been clearly identified as inhibiting parts of the brain that affect appetite, but for the most part, SSRI's and other antidepressants have not been prove to have a direct effect on weight gain or loss. If one is medically prescribed an anti-psychotic, then they have proof of a disability. At the same time, however, you are not required to provide your company with your medical history, and very few people will openly admit to be taking an anti-psychotic, IF they are even functioning (since anti-psychotic meds are generally prescribed to the hospitalized). Therefore, it is highly difficult to prove discrimination, but even if a situation such as this were to occur, then the disability would be a mental disability and obesity would be only a consequence of that disability.0 -
Absolutely not.0
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I believe in personal responsibility.
I think that protection should be applied where discrimination is likely or experienced if it is out of a person’s direct control. This to me includes race, age and disability.
Obesity, in my opinion only qualifies if a cause is identified which is out of the persons control e.g. thyroid or mental imbalance. If no underlying medical cause is identified, personal responsibility should be applied.
I don’t believe that obese people deserve to be abused, in fact think they should be allowed an encouraged to help themselves; the emphasis being on help themselves.0 -
what happened to the idea of equal opportunity NOT equal outcome?0
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Personally, I learned not to judge others based on my own experiences. I gained most of my weight once I hit puberty and nearly 20 years after that, I was diagnosed with PCOS which can make weight loss difficult and weight gain easy. I won't say I've been a perfect shining example of health but from an early age, I was taught to eat whole foods, lots of vegetables and get plenty of exercise. Of course when you are morbidly obese from a pre-teen age, this isn't always easy. I used to swim for hours every day, walk multiple miles every week (in high school, my high school was a mile away and I walked there). I would participate in charity walks and what not and despite doctor supervised diets, losing weight was tough and keeping it off was even tougher. In my adult years, I took up hiking and have enjoyed other activities such as kayaking and biking. I won't say I'm the most active person out there but I will say I don't think I'm a total couch potato either.
Anyway, I never had any success through dieting until my PCOS diagnosis and prescription of BCP. Even then, my lowest adult weight was above 200 lbs. Exercising nearly every day, hiking 5-8+ miles on the weekends or other outdoor activities and eating 1200-1500 calories/day resulted in me being obese. I was ok with that though. If someone would look at me and say I was fat because I was lazy, I could blow them off because I knew my own habits. If someone would say that I should not be hired due to such obesity then I would disagree.
And I accept the weight that I gained fairly recently as being my own fault. I got injured, couldn't be as active, had a death in the family which was difficult, had some other health issues going on and I gained some of the weight I had lost back. I had trouble adjusting my calories to a lower activity level There is also some evidence that formerly morbidly obese people have a lower maintenance level than those that have never been obese. I always just figured that meant I would need to eat less than someone else my size would but I never cared for that as long as I was ok with where I was at.
Anyway, I'd love to get back down to the lower 200s, which would leave me in the obese category. I'd love to stay there for the rest of my life and I know it will be work to maintain that level of weight loss but I'm ok with that. I will also try to get below 200 lbs but I've never had success yet but we'll see what happens. And overall I will say that I believe my weight is my responsibility. I'm sure if I had cut even more calories when I was at my lowest weight, I could've lost more, I just really wasn't willing to eat less than 1200-1500 calories while I was doing intense exercise on a regular basis (running, biking, weight lifting, hiking, etc)0 -
When has someone faced persecution because of obesity? And I mean real persecution. When has an obese person been paid less for the same work than a non-obese person? When has an obese person been denied education because they are obese? When has someone been lynched or legally defined as 2/3 of a person because they are obese?
Historically, being "mean" to someone should not be not grounds for protected status. Someone's whole living, inalienable rights to life, liberty and happiness should have been violated historically in order to warrant protection. "I'm fat and i can't fit in this seat" is not the same as "you're a woman, so you can't vote", you're black so we're going to lynch you, you're gay, so you can't marry."
If we do allow obesity to become a protected class, we trivialize the true struggle other groups have gone through just to be viewed as an equal human being.
No one in America (that I am aware of...) has faced persecution due to obesity yet... but lets not let it get that far. Are obese people treated differently? DEFINITLY! As a woman, I can tell you that I get preferrential treatment by all sorts of people due to my smaller size... I would not get that kind of treatment were I fat. The fact is that "good-looking" people tend to get more promotions than "ugly" people. This is discrimination. Just because no one has been killed yet, doesn't mean that we shouldn't draw the line to end discrimination.
So there is "you're a woman but you can't vote!" and that's a problem. What about "you're fat, so you can't become the CEO"? Isn't that the same type of discriminating attitude?
BIAS is not discrimination. People have been terrorized, victimized, killed and dehumanized and needed protected status just to be viewed as human. Having to buy an extra seat on a plane because you are too big to fit into one is not on the same level of horror as having someone hang you from a tree because your pigmentation was too dark. It is not the same as being stoned to death because you were walking the streets next to a male you weren't related to. And this will never happen to someone who is obese.0 -
No!!!
I have made the choices I have made that made me heavy...
I understand that I ate too much of the wronge food and didn't know how to excercise!
I got FAT because of my choices.
My health suffered, My kids Suffered, My self esteem suffered
But I took Responsibility.
I started Weight Watchers and lost weight.
After a few years of not going to W.W. I started Gaining
I found this site & I found accountability instead of excuses!
Weight loss is attainable!
There is no reason to be mean about the facts....
Less Food + Excersize = Weight loss0 -
No!!!
I have made the choices I have made that made me heavy...
I understand that I ate too much of the wronge food and didn't know how to excercise!
I got FAT because of my choices.
My health suffered, My kids Suffered, My self esteem suffered
But I took Responsibility.
I started Weight Watchers and lost weight.
After a few years of not going to W.W. I started Gaining
I found this site & I found accountability instead of excuses!
Weight loss is attainable!
There is no reason to be mean about the facts....
Less Food + Excersize = Weight loss
You are absolutely right.0 -
No. It absolutely should NOT be a protected class. Unless there is a medical cause, like a thyroid problem than being fat is not a disability. As someone with a legit disability(autism), this kind of thing just annoys me.0
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totallly agree with this ^^I have mixed feelings as well. I dont think someone should be discriminated against because they have a weight issue as far as getting a job where weight shouldn't be a factor. Plus Obesity is not always a choice the example about certain gland issues etc... BUT I'm definitely not for giving people free things like housing and food just because they're obese. In most cases it is a lifestyle choice that lead to obesity not so much that people have just chosen to be obese. Life styles can be changed as many of us here have proven.
Not that it really matters anyway in America you'd probably just have people gaining weight on purpose to be put in the category to abuse the system. Sadly most well meant systems end up that way.0 -
Not that it really matters anyway in America you'd probably just have people gaining weight on purpose to be put in the category to abuse the system. Sadly most well meant systems end up that way.
There are lazy people, and people who "play the system", all over the world. Just like there are many motivated, healthy people in America looking to improve their lives. Propagating stereotypes does nothing; you give reality TV too much credit. and by reality TV, I mean the "news" media too.0 -
No thats ridiculous! (Unless its proven medical thing not iv a specail metabolism)
They put the crap in their bodies they should be responsible for it it
Including myself and thats why im here !0 -
no.0
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Very little proof demonstrates weight gain as a side effect of psychiatric medicines. Weight gain is only identified as a potential side effect because it is reported by the patients. However, correlation does not equal causation, and proof does not exist that weight gain is a direct effect of beginning a new medication. Some anti-psychotics, such as Risperdal, have been clearly identified as inhibiting parts of the brain that affect appetite, but for the most part, SSRI's and other antidepressants have not been prove to have a direct effect on weight gain or loss. If one is medically prescribed an anti-psychotic, then they have proof of a disability. At the same time, however, you are not required to provide your company with your medical history, and very few people will openly admit to be taking an anti-psychotic, IF they are even functioning (since anti-psychotic meds are generally prescribed to the hospitalized). Therefore, it is highly difficult to prove discrimination, but even if a situation such as this were to occur, then the disability would be a mental disability and obesity would be only a consequence of that disability.
True dat....medicine may make it more difficult to lose weight/easier to gain it, but it does'nt MAKE you gain it or STOP you losing it.0 -
Definitely not, the vast majority of obese people are fat because of their own behavior.0
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I'm technically "morbidly obese" and have been, unfortunately, since I was a teenager. However I don't think they should be treated like a person of a different race is, that's stupid. We're not a race, we're not a socially awkward mental disability, we're just fat. We're people with a lot of fat. The only thing I'd say is having a little more class when it comes to addressing the weight problem. If people still wanna be PC about race, let's apply it to weight. I'd rather be called obese than "lard *kitten*", thanks.Very little proof demonstrates weight gain as a side effect of psychiatric medicines. Weight gain is only identified as a potential side effect because it is reported by the patients. However, correlation does not equal causation, and proof does not exist that weight gain is a direct effect of beginning a new medication.
While I'm no doctor, I am a mentally ill person that's been around the block when it comes to medication. (both of what's gone in my mouth and what's gone in others. Thank mandatory group therapy for that) And like anything else some of the drugs can make you gain weight. Take something I take for instance, Lithium Carbonate. Because it has sodium in it, it causes my extremities to swell. Probably didn't help I spend most of my time on my *kitten* whether in work or downtime but there you have it. I have to drink a lot of water and take potassium supplements (because dear lord if I had to eat bananas the rest of my life...) to keep the swelling away and to keep a more accurate mark on my weight. I just got off an anti-psychotic that aided in my plateau because hey guess what it has the side effect of weight gain.
Though I will agree that there's no solid, undeniable proof that it's all the drugs. Many people who report these things don't factor in anything else and hey let's face it we're all eager to blame drugs and say they're bad and unnatural. Myself I try to keep a close eye on what I take, what it puts me at risk for, and what non-nice things I start to feel within the time frame of starting it or having been on it x amount of weeks.
My rebuttal aside, no drugs are not going to make you gain 100lbs or more, they don't blow you up like a balloon. It would take a lot more than a pill to get you that big, the same way it'd take a lot more than a pill to make you small.0 -
Not that it really matters anyway in America you'd probably just have people gaining weight on purpose to be put in the category to abuse the system. Sadly most well meant systems end up that way.
I doubt it. To be honest you're more scrutinized by the system if you're overweight to any degree than if you were healthy/thin. I'm on Social Security Disability because of mental issues and when I applied I was put through the ringer more times than I care to remember and a lot of it was my weight and my age. I wasn't even 20 yet and they saw a fat little lazy girl who wanted to suck the government's teet instead of getting off her butt and being useful to society. They made me ashamed to be fat more than anything, and same with my mother when she had to apply after her doctor said her heart condition was too serious for her to work anymore. Even with stuff like foodstamps (which I've been on) and welfare, your weight is a factor even if not technically an official one.0 -
We don't know enough about obesity to make this determination.
There are many types of obesity. Research has proven that for genetic types of obesity, there's more than just math at work. There's a brain imbalance, addiction, sociological components, and psychological warfare that occurs with some obese people that makes their success more than just "willpower" based.
I once met a doctor who believed that obesity (the kind I describe above) was akin to alcoholism. There is a physical and mental addiction, there is a genetic component, and without support most people cannot succeed long term.
It's really easy to be disgusted or repelled by people who wear their genetic issues on the outside. Everyone has a problem - some of you ruder people know what I'm talking about. You're just lucky you can hide it.0 -
I am saddened that so many people on this site think obesity is a choice and that obese people want to be that way. The sweat and tears of people who have tried to lose weight (some siince childhood) is heartbreaking. Yes some people are lazy and are addicted to food, brought up in obese families and never learned better. Morbid obesity is now classified as a disease. Obese people are finally realizing that diets do not work. They lose weight and then gain it back with extra when the diet is over. Why do you think the diet industry makes so much money every year?? Nobody wants hypertension, diabeties, joint and back pain, and a host of other comorbidities that come along wiith morbiid obesity. I suffered a back injury at work that caused permanent nerve damage. I went from being an actiive person, to someone loaded up on pain meds, house bound and unable to move very much. I had to eat quick things that did not need cooking. Bored, I turned to food. One day I noticed all those calories in and not any going out had caused a new health concern. I had gone from full-figured to morbidly obese. I joined this site as I do my doctor supervised diet for 6 months before I undergo gastric weight loss surgery. My doctor knows using this tool is the only way for me to regain my health. I don't know if I want to be part of this site, so fllled wiith cruel people. A weight loss site that downs "fat" people. This is just a sample of the abuse we face. Overweight people making fun of fat people! It's shameful, but unfortunately part of an obese persons life. I am sorry Fitness Pal, but I do not think there are any "Pals" here for me. Way to go, discourage someone from trying to lose weight by making them feel uncomfortable. You all belong in your own protected class!0
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Since I work in H.R., I have to deal with various cases dealing with discrimination, harrassment, violence in the workplace, etc.... Historically, courts had found that obesity is a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) only when it has a physiological cause. However, recently the court has ruled otherwise and Michigan, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. have laws that expressly make weight a protected class like women and minorities are.
With the growing obesity epidemic in the U.S. (more than one-third of the U.S. adults approx. 35.7% and approx. 17% of children and adolescents) and those numbers expected to rise, do you think it is fair to place them in a protected class? I personally think that obesity is something most, not all, people can change. You can't change that you were born a female or that you are Black, Hispanic, etc... or that you are blind, have cerebral palsy....I think you get my point.
Disclaimer: I am not in any way criticizing obese people. I believe in health and wellness and there are too many facts and research to share on here to support my belief.
It's not. It's not a disability. Not being able to put away the cookie dough is not a disease. It's a WEAKNESS; a character flaw. I know a guy who is so fat he has a handicapped parking pass. Why? because he can't walk through the parking lot. So now we are ENABLING him. It's sad and pathetic.
I struggled with my weight all through high school but I figured out how to workout and change my diet. You won't criticize, but I will. Be an adult and skip the drive-thru.0 -
Save The Whales!!!!!!! Just another sub group of lazy Americans. I am sick of all these special groups seeking special privileges or dispensation at the expense of the rest of us. If there is a problem, never fear....the general government will make it right. NOT! They will just make it worse. I would bet you a majority of these fat-*kitten* are buying their food with their government issued EBT card. Ever been on a plane next to one of these people? Keep your fat in your seat please and don't let it ooze over on me. Better yet, buy the whole row. Sorry to be mean or insensitive but when is it going to stop??
You are entitled to your opinions and I am entitled to think that you are a flaccid ****!
Go Girl !
I second that! :0)0 -
I can speak on this topic from a personal perspective with support that Obesity should NOT be protected under the ADA. While I have PCOS, which is an autoimmune disorder that can make it extremely difficult to lose weight, and in most cases makes it very easy to gain weight quickly; it still is not the main cause for my being overweight. I'm of the opinion that we have lost focus in America about what is a normal food portion versus what is quick, easy to digest, and available to consume as long as our stomach allows the intake. On top of that, as we age we lose interest in physical activity. Therefore, our intake is higher, and our movement is less. Not sure how that can be considered a non preventable disease? It's like saying people that have sex a lot without a condom causes the pregnancy disease. Just like pregnancy, being obese is a direct result of our actions. Now that I'm a diabetic and have witnessed family members with diabetes not give a care to make a change, it's even more a burning desire for me to reverse the effects of my actions. I really hope the American food and drug administration puts more energy in ensuring the foods are not so pumped up with steroids, and chemicals causing adverse brain responses to the foods to crave the bad stuff more. However, that would hurt the drug and medical industry profits on the number of people requiring high blood pressure meds, diabetes meds, cholesterol meds, and hospital visits. Then, it would also reduce the profits from highly processed chemically enhanced foods from being marketed in the poorest neighborhoods and cheapest prices. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I hope we all see what's really going on in America, because I do! Let's not play the victim overweight friends, and take back control!0
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