Poll: Should being obese be considered a disability?

[frago roc]

No, even if they are gentically predisposed to it. They can still work hard and lose weight. I can't work hard and lose my cerebral palsy.

this.
when i hear fat people complain it really pisses me off, one of the few things that can.

When there are people with real diseases, who have no choice in the matter, opposed to some fatass who is too lazy to change his life.

Salzman, L. 1972. Obsessive-Compulsive Aspects of Obesity. The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 3(1):29 - 36.

Obesity is related in some ways to the range of disorders which are compulsively produced and sustained. Like drug or alcohol addiction, obesity may be the consequence of a personality configuration that compels some individuals to overeat as a way of dealing with emotional distress. Such individuals feel exempt from the human physiological limitations and feel they can eat without gaining weight, or they perceive their body image as slender rather than obese.

Ok, i fail to see why this is anyone's fault but their own.
We wouldn't feed a crackheads drug addiction, nor should we for fat people.

I guess it depends what side of the "alcoholism is the fault of the individual or not" debate you're on. It's generally accepted in psychology that many chemical factor can become sources of addiction, given the right circumstances.

Also, what do you mean by feeding the drug addiction? Smokers are allowed smokes, alcoholics booze...

 

[Kunzer]

I actually think that being overweight as an adolescent made my life better!

Now that I have lost so much weight I appreciate my body very much.

I keep myself in better health than I ever did before.

I am also far happier than I ever was.

On Topic: Obviously I do not think that obesity is a disability. Silly bullshit excuse.

 

[Kortney]

Nope. You get fat by your own accord. Calling obesity a disability is trying to justify that choice to over eat - something I believe should never happen. Fat people are fat because they take in more calories than they burn off. It's their own fault. And no, I'm not trying to be harsh - it literally is their own fault.

 

[Mr Pantomime]

Obesity is like Y. Tehnically it a vowel,but it kinda isnt, and noone really cares.

 

[Small Dragon]

Obesity... Not a pretty thing. I'm glad I'm out of that hole now... So! Who wants cake? xD

I'm sorry but I have to do this. Obligatory Portal reference... GO!!!

"The cake is a lie"

lol that game is legendary!

 

[Mcface]

No, even if they are gentically predisposed to it. They can still work hard and lose weight. I can't work hard and lose my cerebral palsy.

this.
when i hear fat people complain it really pisses me off, one of the few things that can.

When there are people with real diseases, who have no choice in the matter, opposed to some fatass who is too lazy to change his life.

Salzman, L. 1972. Obsessive-Compulsive Aspects of Obesity. The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 3(1):29 - 36.

Obesity is related in some ways to the range of disorders which are compulsively produced and sustained. Like drug or alcohol addiction, obesity may be the consequence of a personality configuration that compels some individuals to overeat as a way of dealing with emotional distress. Such individuals feel exempt from the human physiological limitations and feel they can eat without gaining weight, or they perceive their body image as slender rather than obese.

Ok, i fail to see why this is anyone's fault but their own.
We wouldn't feed a crackheads drug addiction, nor should we for fat people.

I guess it depends what side of the "alcoholism is the fault of the individual or not" debate you're on. It's generally accepted in psychology that many chemical factor can become sources of addiction, given the right circumstances.

Also, what do you mean by feeding the drug addiction? Smokers are allowed smokes, alcoholics booze...

Yes, but you cant say "ohh im a smoker, it makes it hard to breath so i cant work, and need money to live on."

 

[Sovereignty]

I say yes. I think it's a seriously debilitating condition and not all people have the strength to work through it.

I have a thyroid problem, and it takes SERIOUS work to maintain a healthy weight. And I (Without tooting my own horn) have the sort of resolve few others can even shine a light at.

So the fact that there are tons of people without my resolve fighting this condition? I can only feel sorry for them and hope people aren't ignorant enough to believe that it's a case of, "They just don't want to lose it."

I'm not saying it's the same sort of handicap paraplegics have or anything like that... But for people with actual diseases that make weight maintenance hard, they deserve a little help. Even if it's just by means of funding to get their problems fixed, or hire people to help them put off the weight and keep it off.

 

[Varitel]

What obesity causes are certainly disabilities worthy of accomodations. It makes it difficult for people to get around, and causes joint pain as well as other conditions. These are valid reasons to be considered disabled. As for the people who have gotten to that point, it becomes difficult for them to excercise and lose the weight under those conditions, and though in some cases they may have brought it on themselves, they deserve special accomodations as much as those who smoked themselves into Emphysema, and now have to walk around with an oxygen tank everywhere they go. As was said earlier in the thread "Disability is not dependent on choice".

 

[BabyRaptor]

Mixed feelings. If you're referring to a lazy person who does nothing but eat and watch TV, no. That's not a disability.

On the other hand, there are people like my roommate. He has diabetes. He has a schedule to follow of when/how much to eat to maintain his blood sugar. Obviously this isn't an excuse to balloon to 700 pounds, I'm not saying that. I'm not saying don't exercise, either. But with what's considered "obese" by doctors today, there are certain situations where people wind up there unwillingly. Those situations I could see counting as a disability.

 

[Zaik]

Seems to me that it ought to be a reverse disability. Since the government is so concerned with their health, why not have Fat Parking at the very back of the parking lot? Or just make Fat Parking areas and force them to walk to nearby places from Fat Parking? I guarantee that even people with the worst genes will lose weight.

 

[BabyRaptor]

Btw, a LOT of you Escapist ppl seem to have trouble differentiating "lose" from "loose." As in, when you fuck a prostitute and forget to take the amateur video you made out of your VCR and your spouse finds it, you "LOSE" your wife. When you make a video of prostitute sitting down on an orange hazard cone, she gets a "LOOSE" pussy.

Additionally, the word "DEFINITELY" DOESN'T HAVE A FUCKING 'A' IN IT.

Of all the pre-adolescent writing mistakes...

Oh no, run kids, old man spell-check is on the rage again XD

I find it funny that he's lecturing us on spelling, but he apparently can't spell "people"...

 

[AngloDoom]

To everyone who says obesity is always the fat person's fault. Research suggests otherwise (and I'm not even talking genetics).

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2010/05/obesity-methane-gas-bacteria.html

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/636635.html

My mother has an under-active thyroid. Genetically-speaking she should be more prone to being over-weight than most people she knows and yet she walks to and from work and very occasionally does some yoga, 'boxercise', or whatever the hell she wants to do on the spur of the moment, and eats healthy meals and she still is a healthier weight than most people she knows at her work.

I myself have the opposite problem of having a speedy metabolism that means I have been around 8st, despite being a 5ft 11 individual, putting me deep into the 'underweight' category of the BMI charts. However, I've eaten more and taken to going to the gym and I'm now 11st 6lbs.

Obesity isn't a genetic issue. It's an issue of self-control.

You and your mom are not a large enough sample size to make that conclusion.

And those links weren't about thyroids.

Of course the samples aren't large enough, but I can't imagine I'd be that biologically different from such people. Even if I was, the fact remains that changing your diet and lifestyle will, without exception, change your weight. Energy has to be used, said energy has to come from somewhere. Some places have a larger proportion of obese people, and these are always more privileged societies in which junk food is cheaper and easier than healthier alternatives.

I understand the point you are trying to make, but genetics and disease can be overcome. Not always, obviously, but another example is a friend of mine who suffers from brittle asthma. He requires a pill in the morning, and two inhalers: one as a preventative in the morning, and another to carry around with him. Despite all this, he is the type of person who hates being physically unable to do what others can (again, due to his condition) and regularly had cardio training from a early age. He spend a lot of his childhood in and out of hospital, yet he can now run longer and faster than I can.

Again, I understand this is just one man, but I'd find it hard to argue that a person who exercises properly every day for half an hour to an hour would find that they are not putting a dent in their weight gain. If they are still overweight, do more.

There will be the odd example of people who find it difficult to lose weight based on biology, but this is no reason to give already lazy and greedy people encouragement to maintain such an unhealthy lifestyle.

 

[Random berk]

Its less a disability, more a self inflicted injury. The military always took a dim view of anyone who shot themselves in the foot to get themselves sent home. Why should society reward someone who is too lazy or gluttonous to avoid turning into Jabba the Hutt?

My girlfriend is somewhat overweight, as is another friend of mine, but both go to the college gym, and my girlfriend is working to get on the volleyball team. This is the kind of thing people should be doing if they're overweight. Something like this

Spoiler

http://theamazing39stonecyclist.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/manual-worlds-fattest-man.jpg

is frankly an abuse of the good fortune to be alive. Don't look at the picture if you're easily offended.

Wait a minute - are those his balls sticking out of the sides of that towel?

That's disgusting.

OP: No, obesity shouldn't, even in the case of that picture that the fellow I quoted posted, no. Not unless someone has a disease or condition that won't allow them to lose weight, and then it's generally a symptom. No, obesity should never be considered a disability. If a person wants it gone, they need to get off of their ass.

I THINK thats supposed to be a woman, so probably not.

 

[Laurie Barnes]

Its less a disability, more a self inflicted injury. The military always took a dim view of anyone who shot themselves in the foot to get themselves sent home. Why should society reward someone who is too lazy or gluttonous to avoid turning into Jabba the Hutt?

-snip-

Wait a minute - are those his balls sticking out of the sides of that towel?

That's disgusting.

OP: No, obesity shouldn't, even in the case of that picture that the fellow I quoted posted, no. Not unless someone has a disease or condition that won't allow them to lose weight, and then it's generally a symptom. No, obesity should never be considered a disability. If a person wants it gone, they need to get off of their ass.

I THINK thats supposed to be a woman, so probably not.

Exactly, if you are so fat that you think you need disability, you need to do one of three things. 1) See a doctor, (should probably do this one anyway), 2) Exercise, 3)Drop dead.