Is being fat a disability??

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.

dis·a·bil·i·ty
/ˌdisəˈbilitē/

noun

noun: disability; plural noun: disabilities

a physical or mental condition that limits a person's movements, senses, or activities.

However, being OBESE or MORBIDLY OBESE does.

Im Obese and I can jog..So I disagree

Morbidly obese and can jog. And jump up onto 6' walls. And work as hard as anyone else.

/shrug

So you weigh 350+ lbs and can jump up onto 6' walls?

325+ with a BMI of around 43ish. And yes, yes I can.

That's awesome man.

It is all about body composition and lifestyle. I am reasonably active and am one of those that got fat due to depression.

Exhibit A: Bam Bam Bigelow

This guy wrestled at weights fluctuating from 300-425lbs and could jump and do mostly everything the smaller guys could. Totally legit.

His backflips used to trip me out!

He was also more active than a lot of people are. He had a goal and succeeded.

Being fat is no more a disability than being redheaded or having big calves. They want to call it a disability? Fine- let's give them special parking spots- the ones as far away from the door of the business as possible.

Wow OP. I think I figured out why you are so angry. Took a look at your diary and it's scary. 900, 800, 600 cal days? WHOA. Maybe you might consider that keeping your body properly fueled isn't only important to your physical health, but your mental well being too.

Having never dealt with depression, I don't think I can comment.

Obese, morbidly obese, super obese etc. is definitely in my opinion debilitating and can facilitate a whole host of medical issues.
It's sad really, but even sadder is to judge when I've never been in that position.

Agreed.

To me it's like saying lung cancer isn't a disabling if you got it from smoking. Or liver failure if you got it from doing drugs. Or having lost both legs while playing chicken with a train. Doesn't matter how you got there, once you're there, you're not able to do what you used to do, therefore you are disabled.

Not to say everyone who can reverse such a condition shouldn't try, but they'll likely have much more success with some help.

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?

Do we or should we?

I try to remember that people who are eatting too much, or smoking too much or drinking too much are hurting themselves and I may now know or understand the reason but it's probably there.

I am not saying I can't be a judgemental b!#@*, but I try to stick to things that won't screw so much with my karma...like taste in music or politics

I really thought I'd find the lack of empathy surprising. In fact, I don't, I totally expect it from this forum at this point.

We keep it classy round these parts.

Like most MFP posts, it's how you read them. There's about one *kitten* per page. The overwhelming consensus is that the OP is a douche.

For those saying that obese people shouldn't use the motorized scooters at stores, I want to point out that just because I am doing something about my weight does not mean that I am currently able to bee-bop all over the place. I personally hate it that I have to use the scooters, but it is where I am right now. I'm getting stronger and I believe that soon, very soon, I will be able to do small store trips without using one. Don't automatically judge a person using one of those things, you just don't know what's going on.

As for if it's a disability....going by the definition posted within this forum, yes...for me, it is....but only for now. My mobility is currently nowhere near where I want it to be but I am at the very beginning of changing that.

Btw, most Walmart stores only have 2 or 3 working motorized carts, if that. They should have more considering the variety of reasons someone would need one. Age, arthritis, medical conditions, broken foot/leg and yes, extreme obesity. You can't tell what that severely overweight person is doing in their life to make changes simply in passing them in a store and judging them based ONLY on their current appearance. What if they JUST started? You just don't know.

All of that said, I do think people/companies are WAY too sensitive. People call me fat all the time...to my face AND behind my back. You know what though?? You can't fight with the truth. I did this to myself....and I'm un-doing it.

Good for you.

We all have our reasons for being here. Some of them are really, really compelling. But none of us will be able to improve ourselves unless we take personal responsibility for our choices.

“Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

:flowerforyou:

Having never dealt with depression, I don't think I can comment.

Obese, morbidly obese, super obese etc. is definitely in my opinion debilitating and can facilitate a whole host of medical issues.
It's sad really, but even sadder is to judge when I've never been in that position.

Agreed.

To me it's like saying lung cancer isn't a disabling if you got it from smoking. Or liver failure if you got it from doing drugs. Or having lost both legs while playing chicken with a train. Doesn't matter how you got there, once you're there, you're not able to do what you used to do, therefore you are disabled.

Not to say everyone who can reverse such a condition shouldn't try, but they'll likely have much more success with some help.

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?

Do we or should we?

I try to remember that people who are eatting too much, or smoking too much or drinking too much are hurting themselves and I may now know or understand the reason but it's probably there.

I am not saying I can't be a judgemental b!#@*, but I try to stick to things that won't screw so much with my karma...like taste in music or politics

I think most of us do have the empathy. Whether we should is a philosophical question that I'm not qualified to answer, and I'm sure my opinion isn't going to be a popular one.

However, I will say this: Your taste in music is bad, and you should feel bad. :laugh: :drinker:

I don't think being fat in itself can be labeled a disability. It is lazy and making an excuse in my opinion to use disability and fat in the same sentence. It can be harder to lose weight if you truly have a thyroid issue. But the thyroid issue is the disability not being fat.

I think obesity itself should not be considered a disability. I think it should be between a person and their doctor and go by any and all health problems they have, but obesity on its own does not GUARANTEE serious medical problems - at least not in the short term.

What I cringe at though, is the idea of many people who are obese not caring to change their situation or improve their health while they still can...some even thinking, "Well if I stay this fat, I'll just go on disability sooner or later anyway" and they're probably right, because of associated medical conditions. That is scary to me - and pathetic.

I think this is such a difficult topic. There is so much judgment in this thread and while I think some of it is warranted, much of it is really not. People become (and remain) obese and morbidly obese for a huge variety of reasons. People at very high weights have drastically different levels of activity and ability and even wildly different levels of health. I have had coworkers who were the same weight as I was at the time (both morbidly obese) and despite both being female and early 30's we were as different as night and day. I could easily stand for an entire shift, move heavy boxes, needed no prescription medication, and was in counseling for anxiety. My coworker could not walk more than a few feet or stand for more than a few minutes, had diabetes, high blood pressure, clinical depression, fibromyalgia, and took about twelve Rx meds every day. Was she pretty close to being disabled? YES. Was I? No way, even though I was at risk for a lot of major medical issues, I don't think my obesity warranted that type of category whatsoever.

I really thought I'd find the lack of empathy surprising. In fact, I don't, I totally expect it from this forum at this point.

We keep it classy round these parts.

Like most MFP posts, it's how you read them. There's about one *kitten* per page. The overwhelming consensus is that the OP is a douche.

I do try my best to make sure that one *kitten* per page minimum is always met.

Being obese or morbidly obese most definitely can be a disability because it often interferes with normal activity, even with no underlying health problems. Whether it is subject to FMLA is dependent on other factors. In some cases, yes, and in other cases, no. That's a matter that is determined by those whose job it is to make distinctions. It isn't my job, and I'm guessing that it isn't the OP's job, either. Yes, some obese people are more than capable of performing job functions, but some aren't. It isn't for me to determine if it's a disability or not because I don't work in that field or see the specific case file. As for OP's coworker with the lap band, my guess is her distaste for her as a person leads to her being overly judgmental of the woman. OP doesn't like her, so she's looking for more reasons to justify the dislike. It shows a distinct character flaw, and a disappointing one at that.

Judging what other people purchase at a grocery store is lame. Eating only clean foods or lean meat and veggies is whoever's prerogative, but I don't walk around the grocery store judging those sorts of people for thinking they're better than the rest of us who like to bring home frozen pizzas and pop tarts.

There are plenty of thin people out there gaming the system when it comes to FMLA, SSD and SSI. I'd be willing to bet that if you look at the statistics on it, people gaming the system would look just like the overall population with respect to the percentages of obese versus normal weight.

^ I like you:)

She is awesome, isn't she?

She really is. I think she's quite intelligent, coupled with common sense. This is a good combination IMO. I like how she pointed out numerous facets of a very unfortunate thread. For example, the idea that thin people aren't all perfect needed to be mentioned here.

I tried to see the op's point of view but all I can think is that the unkind words she spouts are merely a reflection of who she is.

I really thought I'd find the lack of empathy surprising. In fact, I don't, I totally expect it from this forum at this point.

We keep it classy round these parts.

Like most MFP posts, it's how you read them. There's about one *kitten* per page. The overwhelming consensus is that the OP is a douche.

I do try my best to make sure that one *kitten* per page minimum is always met.

We each must play our part.

There are many different definitions of diability out there. Being considered disabled for purposes of qualifying for a handicapped parking permit is different than the definition of disabled for puposes of qualifying for social security disability, and is different than the definition of disabed to qualify for VA benefits. so I guess it depends what you are using for your definition of disabed. I am an attorney for social security disability, and obesity by itself is not a basis for disablity under this program. We look at the affects of obesity on the person's other impairments.