Is being fat a disability??

All I am moved to say is....




15 yards! Unnecessary holding!

Challenging the ruling! Review the tapes!

For the record, I have been overweight...so who is judging now??

You are.

I think my post was totally misconstrued.....

And yet you say things like:

THEN the "victim" that sits next to me and has already had a lap band and lost some weight and gained some of it back....brought up depression and that making you eat and you cant help it....sorry I am calling bull**** on this one.....no quit being a victim and get off your *kitten* and do something!!!

and

those massive people in them

and

I judge by whats in their cart.

Strange.

It's not nice being negatively judged and people making nasty assumption about you based on incomplete information is it?

Typical obesity, as is the case for the majority of most obese people, is a self-inflicted wound.

There are true disabilities/disorders, etc that slow down or stop people who try to lose weight, but there are people who, with these issues, overcome them. They are the type of people that instead of finding their diagnosis as an excuse to just stay fat, find it as a challenge to make themselves better. These are people with extreme cases of Lupus, or who have had brain surgery, or who have a nerve disorder that's so bad they pass out going up a flight of steps. These same people, who through sheer strength of character, choose to make a difference for themselves. These people are my heroes. They don't say "oh, I don't have enough time to work out, so I'm going to stay 350lbs."

By this logic, they make people with legitimate disabilities look bad? My problem with this sort of thing is that you can't tell any of this just by looking at someone.

I work at Vocational Rehabilitation, and I can tell you that as a state agency that works with people with disabilities, it CAN BE considered a disability. We use it for eligibility when it is related to diabetes, cardiovascular conditions, etc. and when a person is considered morbidly obese. A disability is defined as a condition that impacts a persons ability to perform a job, so you cannot possibly tell me that a person who has diabetes that is not controlled and weight 350 lbs does not have limitations. In these cases, it is my job to help the person get their diagnoses under control, including healthy weight loss.

So in other words, you save lives.

You are awesome.

I really wasn't going to comment, but I just have to say, who are you to make any kinds of judgments about people you don't know anything about? You already called your coworker a 'victim' do you know anything about their life story?

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you've never dealt with depression and have no real knowledge of what it is.

You made a comment about depression and calling the fact that it can make someone eat and not stop bs. As someone who has dealt with depression since I was 9 after a very traumatic incident which shattered my whole world. I wish it was that easy to just stop eating. My darkest time was a 5 year long deep depression. I knew what I was doing, I knew I needed to stop, I knew I wanted to lose weight, I ate more. It was a very vicious cycle and it's not something someone can just 'snap' out of. I would do good, then have a bad day and eat/drink everything. Wake up the next day feeling like a failure, beat myself up mentally some more, feel worse, eat/drink, repeat. It wasn't until I had what I call my light bulb moment that I changed my life. I started losing weight, started caring and actually taking care of myself. I accepted myself. I still fight every single day. Every.Single.Day. Some days are a lot easier than others, some weeks I don't feel depressed at all, but it's still a fight. Like losing weight until someone is ready to deal, ready to fight, will they actually be able to have the strength to change.

So maybe before you start doling out judgment and calling people victims, you should take time to talk to them, find out where they are coming from. Try with an open mind to see things from a different point of view.

I work at Vocational Rehabilitation, and I can tell you that as a state agency that works with people with disabilities, it CAN BE considered a disability. We use it for eligibility when it is related to diabetes, cardiovascular conditions, etc. and when a person is considered morbidly obese. A disability is defined as a condition that impacts a persons ability to perform a job, so you cannot possibly tell me that a person who has diabetes that is not controlled and weight 350 lbs does not have limitations. In these cases, it is my job to help the person get their diagnoses under control, including healthy weight loss.

So in other words, you save lives.

You are awesome.

No, I help people who want to get help saving their own lives. But thanks! :flowerforyou:

I work at Vocational Rehabilitation, and I can tell you that as a state agency that works with people with disabilities, it CAN BE considered a disability. We use it for eligibility when it is related to diabetes, cardiovascular conditions, etc. and when a person is considered morbidly obese. A disability is defined as a condition that impacts a persons ability to perform a job, so you cannot possibly tell me that a person who has diabetes that is not controlled and weight 350 lbs does not have limitations. In these cases, it is my job to help the person get their diagnoses under control, including healthy weight loss.

Right...but the weight is not the disability...I am fully aware that there are people who have weight issues because of medical issues, but if there is no medical issue should weight ALONE be a reason to be able to receive disablity? I think that was kind of my point when all this started...

Just keep on judging... and since you're still in your halloween costume maybe this year you should go as judge judy

Fat is the bridge to actual disability problems (blood clots, high blood pressure, diabetes, joint pain, inability to walk/breathe, etc). There is people working without limbs or moving only a part of their body and you are requesting medical leaves and special benefits because you are shoving pizza down your throat? Nope. No excuses.

I am 259 pounds and 24 years old, I have caused this to myself and I am accepting it. I am trying to change it. As to depression, I'm there and I am doing my best to overcome it.

THEN the "victim" that sits next to me and has already had a lap band and lost some weight and gained some of it back....brought up depression and that making you eat and you cant help it....sorry I am calling bull**** on this one.....no quit being a victim and get off your *kitten* and do something!!!

My first thought is that you have obviously never experienced true depression, which is not simply feeling a little down.

Thankfully, my depression was situational rather than chronic (a breakup) and when I feel that way, I have no appetite, so while I didn't exercise, I also didn't eat for weeks and I lost weight.

That said, I also didn't sleep. At all. I was in college and had to take an incomplete for the summer class I was taking -- something that should (for me) have been a super easy A). Getting out of bed was a terrible struggle and I felt like a zombie. All I did was cry. And, no, I couldn't just stop feeling that way.

So while maybe the "being fat" itself might not be a disability, the conditions (including depression) leading to it can be.