The Truth About Obesity

There are some people who are obese enough to be considered disabled, and therefore are qualified for disability benefits under certain government rules.

One of the many controversial issues regarding the weight debate would be this. Persons with obesity are frequently the victims of discrimination, but prejudice against the obese stems from the widely held belief that getting fat, and staying fat results from a failure of willpower. (Spake 337).

The American Obesity Association has a totally different approach to this delicate issue. Evidence of discrimination is found at virtually every stage of the employment cycle, including but not limited to overweight persons being subjected to discrimination in employment based on body weight. (obesity.1)

With that in mind, a series of tax breaks, and disability checks are allotted to anyone who has a serious obesity problem. This creates a debate in the minds of anyone who thinks why should an overweight person receive a disability check?

First of all let’s define the difference between overweight and obesity. The Center for Disease Control defined obesity as the condition of an excessively high amount of fat. Morbid obesity means that the individual weighs anywhere from 50 to 100 percent more than normal weight. People who are considered overweight have not reached a high enough weight to qualify as being obese. (weightloss.)

How can an individual become overweight enough to a point that would create a tax break and other benefits simply from eating too much? This issue boggles the mind. “It has become routine for government panels charged with the task of making public health recommendations regarding weight to consist exclusively of people...

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...s a medical condition that can be cured, unlike more serious health issues such as cancer. If individuals would take a chance and change a lifestyle that has become prevalent in today’s society, disability checks for the morbid obese would be a thing of the past, if only everyone would try to maintain a healthy weight through diet and exercise.

Works Cited

Amanda Spake, “Chapter Eight” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum, (New York: Pearson, 2007) 337-337

“Discrimination” American Obesity Association, Dec 3, 2007

http://obesity1.tempdomainname.com/discrimination/employment.shtml

“Morbid Obesity” About.com , Dec 3, 2007

http://adam.about.com/encyclopedia/morbid-obesity.htm

Paul Campos, The Obesity Myth (New York: Penguin Books, 2004

George V Mann, MD “Obesity, the Nutritional Spook”, American Journal of Public

Health, 1971