Should Obesity Be Considered A Disability???

If you're an American, you see it everyday. People so obese that they have trouble getting around. As a mass-transit user, I see it all too often. At least two-thirds (and I'm being conservative here) of those who need the handicapped ramp lowered for them are grossly obese.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a837a47db682.jpg[/atsimg]

And just like the photo, most are getting around in motorized scooters or wheelchairs. They have handicapped plates on their cars. They have handicapped ID's. They are multiplying everyday.

Now I understand that there are circumstances where this is out of their control, and it is truly a disability that gets them into this situation, but I have a feeling that this is the minority of cases. The exception, not the norm. I believe that in most cases these individuals are in this state simply because they lacked the will power to push themselves away from the buffet table. So, is this really a disability, or are these land whales just milking the system and making the rest of us pay for their gluttonous habits?

The American diet is the problem.
Eat as the TV directs you to and you will get fat.
Buy packaged ready to heat and eat meals loaded with MSG and you will get fat.

Cooking from scratch is just too hard for most people.
I haven't seen any obese people in the Produce department at the grocery store.
I see them in the check out line with their carts loaded with sodas and pasta.

But consider that this may be part of the depopulation plan.
Obese people have shorter lives.
I am a senior, and I NEVER see them at the HMO doctor's office.

I forgot to say, No, it should not be considered a disability.

Actually that is the biggest person I've ever seen in a handicapped scooter. Maybe your area has a lot more really big handicapped people. I wouldn't be surprised if the percentage of obese handicapped is close to the normal percentage of obese people. If that is true then the answer is NO, being obese should not be a disability by itself.

land whales

lol
I see what your saying mate,its a tough one isnt it,for a lot of these "land whales" its brought on themselves but look at all the people with dementia and depression brought on by drugs and alcohol,these people need help,self enflicted or not!

i suppose when you get to that woman's size its a disability ( in her case she actually wants to be the fattest woman on earth) , but there's a simple cure eat less. obesity is purely down to greed/glutony and lazyness i should know i used to weigh 380+ pounds. giving people disability benefits for being obese is crazy it give's them no incentive to loose weight and affords them the privalige of staying at home and eating more.

reply to post by JaxonRoberts



Obese people are disabled but its self inflicted. Then again so is drug addition, alcohol addiction, etc. you get my point. If those who become disabled because of obvious self infliction it is not an incentive to get better if you get disability or food stamps. If she was disgnosed with say a thyroid problem, that would quality her for disability - but to just sit and eat and eat and eat - no way! The American diet is not great that's for sure but we could at least eat less of it. Just my 2 cents.

reply to post by JaxonRoberts


To figure out is diabetes should be considered a disability or not we have to look at two things: one, what is obesity? and two, what constitutes as a disability?

Obesity: (Taken from Wikipedia)

Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems.[1][2] Body mass index (BMI), a measurement which compares weight and height, defines people as overweight (pre-obese) if their BMI is between 25 kg/m2 and 30 kg/m2, and obese when it is greater than 30 kg/m2.[3]

Obesity increases the likelihood of various diseases, particularly heart disease, type 2 diabetes, breathing difficulties during sleep, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.[2] Obesity is most commonly caused by a combination of excessive dietary calories, lack of physical activity, and genetic susceptibility, although a few cases are caused primarily by genes, endocrine disorders, medications or psychiatric illness. Evidence to support the view that some obese people eat little yet gain weight due to a slow metabolism is limited; on average obese people have a greater energy expenditure than their thin counterparts due to the energy required to maintain an increased body mass.[4][5]

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Disability: (Also taken from Wikipedia

A disability (or lack of a given ability, as the "dis" qualifier denotes) in humans may be physical, cognitive/mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.

An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations. Thus disability is a complex phenomenon, reflecting an interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives."[1]
So if a 'disability' is a problem in body function or an activity limitation and obesity can severly limit body function and limitation, then I think the answer to your question is certainly YES, obesity should be considered a disability

No.
Neither should depression,
manic depression,
anxiety disorder,
or the myriad of other
disabilities that are rampant on the checklists these days.

Get off your f'ing asses and stop trying to work the system,
so honestly disabled people stop getting turned down.

Some people have problems with their thyroids or whatever...that I can get and see where disability comes in play.

On the other hand, when you do see those people in their motorized scooters, take a look in their basket. More often than not if you look in the basket attached to their scooter, you'll see the source of their "disability"

reply to post by thegoodearth

Depression is a disability and so is bipolar. You can't help those... Believe me...

to a certain extent you can control your weight, Neurological disorders are in no way controllable, until you go through them personally you can't say anything otherwise. My depression triggered my agoraphobia... At times I get so stressed that I have to leave the situation or I have the urge to scream. I cannot control that without medication and treatment for it takes a very very long time and doesn't have a 100% success rate. Saying what you said is ignorance. It truly is.


I would like to say obesity is NOT a disability Unless, you have a medical condition causing your excessive weight gain...

I see people just like the woman in the picture every time I go grocery shopping. I have to believe that the motorized cart is not helping them.

I know what a pain the weight is. I am a big guy anyway. At 215 I am very lean. However, I had some 22 surgeries after being shot with a 12 ga in the neck and chest. Being down for a couple of years going through surgeries every month or so, I shot up to 350! I can't excercise like I want and I hardly eat anything. As a matter of fact, I had blood work done at the doc and I was malnurished from trying not to eat to lose it. Anyway, it is taking a lot longer to lose it that gaining it, BUT I AM. However, I never used the disabled excuse. I also was in a car accident and have titanium bars and plates in my femur, pelvis, tibia, and lumbar spine. Family thinks I should get a disabled permit and I refuse to. I can walk fine and get around. Yea, its a little pain, so what. People ABUSE the crap out of those disabled placards and plates. I see people using those things all the time and they walk around perfectly fine. I don't feel sorry for people that are disabled because they kept stuffing their face every 5 minutes. I think they should have to walk around. It is only making their condition worse riding electric carts around! This is one item that truly ticks me off. I probably have more reason than most to get one if I felt I wanted it, NOT for convienence because your only problem is the one you caused on purpose by stuffing your pie hole. There ARE PEOPLE that are truly disabled. Being a fat a#$ isn't an excuse!

If I hurt your little feelings, go call 1-800-WAA-AAAA !

BTW, I am not talking about legitimate medical conditions that cause their weight issues!

reply to post by Xiamara


I am sorry, but I really have an issue with this.
I have a hard time with the disability system being clogged, people with
truly disabling diseases being turned down and waiting over a year or two to begin to
receive benefits because of these kinds of mental health issues.
Sorry if that sounds insensitive.

A family whose breadwinner has been diagnosed with MS , ALS, Huntingdons having to wait
because of this type of crap backlogging the system really ticks me off-
and it happens frequently.
Nobody gets "redtagged" to go faster.

reply to post by Xiamara



I agree - Bipolar, depression, anxiety disorders are real!!!!!!! A lot of people work even tho they have these conditions - at times it becomes too overwhelming to handle a job.

I know how you feel there Jax. I used to ride the bus all the time and I would see this everytime I was on the bus as well.

I honestly don't believe that obesity should be considered an disability. I for one am a big guy, there is no getting around that. I weigh somewhere on the order of 250 pounds. However, it does not keep me from getting up off of my rump and being active. I go out and play football, I go out and shoot basketball, and hell I go walking all of the time. There are two hills that are kind of steep here in town that I walk up whenever I get the chance. Instead of driving or taking the bus to work, I walk to work. Whenever, I got out shooting my railroad videos. I walk to the spot I usually wind up at to get the video since it is here in town. It really helps when I'm out shovelling snow when we get a lot of it. So, yeah I am fairly active even though I'm a big guy. I'm almost always on my feet in some way or the other.

I will grant you that some people are obese due to a medical reason. The most common reason is that a person's thyroid is screwed up. Hypothyroidism is an underactive thyroid gland that is caused by Hashimoto's disease. This in turn can lead to weight gain which will cause a person to gain weight without being able to lose the weight that was gained. This being due to where the thyroid cannot produce the hormones necessary to keep your weight down. Most of the time, people let this go undiagnosed. More than likely, this is just one of the few reasons why people gain weight and retain it. Most people use the low metabolism as an excuse for their weight gain. When it has been shown that having a low metabolism has nothing to do with weight gain or weight loss. Weight gain in itself is due largely to unhealthy eating habits and the lack of exercise.

I can guarantee you that obesity is not a disability by far. The reason why some many people are obese is that they are lazy whenever they have time on their hands. Unhealthy eating habits, like eating fast food more than twice a week. How about people not getting out and getting the exercise that they should be getting. You know what I find interesting about the problem with obseity? I find it interesting that most of these people, if they have a legitimate medical problem, get like this because the doctors know that their patients will spend the money to purchase a scooter or a powered wheelchair. Sad part is that my father sees this everyday where he works in EMS. I mean it is nothing for him to go and take someone's 600 pound lazy rump to the hospital because they can't breathe. And the patient wonders why they can't breathe?? It's called having all of that weight that makes it difficult for you to breathe.

Yes you can blame the government for most of the problem with obesity. The reason being is that people know that they can get however much money they want from the Feds just so that they don't have to work. Nor does the government tell you what you can or cannot buy if you are on welfare. The system that is in place to help people now is screwed up.

did you make this thread to troll me JAx because you are my feeder/enabler?

That said, obesity i personally believe can be a sickness like depression. Its not a simple matter of "get over it"
I have great care and compassion for obese people.
Zazz

reply to post by thegoodearth


So people with Bi-polar and depression don't have to wait too... We all have to wait, its not Bi-polar and depression that's clogging up the system Its a faulty system. Blaming a legit disorder is just convenient for you rather than admit maybe the system is flawed.

Yes i am over weight but i was not over weight till the onset of sarcoidosis neurosarcoidosis fibromyalgia and the endocrine disorders cause by the sarcoidosis,(type 2 diabetes)

I was a firefighter/EMT before this autoimmune disorder hit me.

While doing research, I found the 3 top occupations for sarcoidosiis to be: #1) Medical workers #2) Firefighters #3) US Navy Personnel.

Guess what i worked in the medical field as a EMT and i worked as a Volunteer Firefighter. and am a US Navy veteran.
www.inspire.com...

My doctors are now talking about putting me on prednisone for the sarcoidosis and its notorious for causing weight gain.
www.buzzle.com...

A very interesting topic Jax. I would have to say that in my opinion, self-imposed obesity (an example being the woman in the photo) should not be considered a disability, if only for the fact that the person was irresponsible enough to get that big. Now, a screwed up thyroid, Cushing's Syndrome, or any number of diseases that cause massive and uncontrollable weight gain should be considered for disability, but on a case by case basis.

I find it really sad when I go to the grocery store and see morbidly obese people riding around on their scooters with nothing but junk food in their carts. I think it's an issue of cost vs. keeping the family fed. I could make an entire thread on that topic alone, so I'll leave it at that, but I think fruits and vegetables, meats, and other healthy options should be sold cheaper while junk foods, including soda and all that other garbage should be either taxed or have the prices raised. In this age of "I want it now!" many people have forgotten how to cook for themselves. I wonder how many of the morbidly obese people never even learned how to boil water, or how great it feels to bite into a fresh tomato right off the vine.

Much like gimme, I am a larger fellow. I cook for myself, I play basketball when I can, and I occasionally play football with friends (although I've avoided it in the past couple of years because I'm dealing with a still undiagnosed neurological disorder). I stay active, and am able to maintain my weight. If I should ever get big enough to require a scooter, it would be my own damn fault, and I wouldn't be sitting in line waiting to collect disability. I would be pushing the real disability cases to the back, especially people like my mother who was diagnosed with MS and a rare inner ear disorder almost three years ago now. Do you know how long it took her to get on disability for that? Almost two and a half years. You know how many people ahead of her got disability faster? You guessed it: the "land whales" that got fat through years of malnutrition and bad choices with food. How do I know this? One of the people was a friend of the family who had no prior medical problems. He just let himself go. He got on disability in two months. TWO MONTHS! It took my mother TWO AND A HALF YEARS to collect. And that was after a battery of intrusive tests just to prove that she could no longer function in a working capacity.

While I may be the proverbial pot calling the kettle black, at least I make a solid attempt at maintaining my weight and staying healthy. Will I ever be a GQ model? Nope. Will I ever have a six pack? Nope. Am I healthy, and can I still be a contributing member of society? You bet your bottom dollar that I can. There's no excuse for some of these people to get this big.


I hope everybody posting will take a responsible, and adult attitude when replying, because the last thing we need is another fatty bashing thread.



Peace be with you.

-truthseeker

It's a disability if you have something medically wrong with you that prevents you from losing the weight. Otherwise, it's not even close.