There are plenty of opinions about whether or not obesity is a disease or a disability and even the psychological implications that might come along with such labels. Turns out the difference of opinion is quite drastic between Europe and the United States.
On December 18, 2014, the European Court of Justice made a landmark decision by requiring employers to protect obese workers by providing them with larger seats, special parking spaces and other accommodations. Some American physicians, however, beg to differ with this ruling.
SERMO, a social network for physicians, polled 2,238 doctors to see whether or not they agree that obesity should be considered a disability. (It should be noted that this is purely an opinion poll.)
One of the main reasons for considering obesity as a disability is to avoid people getting fired for being morbidly overweight. This is why the 2008 amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act have been interpreted by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to mean obesity can qualify as a condition that has protection against employer discrimination.
But not everyone believes obesity qualifies as a legitimate disability. The editorial board at the Chicago Tribune piped in after the European Court of Justice made its decision:
The expansion is also at odds with the basic idea of the ADA: empowering people who are the unfortunate victims of fate. Obesity is usually the result of individual decisions, and it can be ameliorated by individual decisions. Those facts argue for leaving the government out of this realm.
No one pretends that healthy choices are easy. But the fact remains that people can avoid weight gain, or achieve weight loss, by eating less and exercising more. Blind people, by contrast, can’t get their sight back by any form of self-discipline. No amount of willpower can give a paraplegic the ability to walk.
Other people believe that discrimination is a major issue when it comes to obesity, and that is enough of a reason to consider it a disability. Helen Leahey, a Welsh journalist and documentary filmmaker who works in education management, recently contributed to The Washington Post to discuss the problem, coming from personal experience as an obese woman.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Research confirms that overweight people have a harder time finding work, too. The University of Tübingen in Germany studied the reactions of human resource professionals to photos of job candidates, including ones described as overweight. The recruiters were far less likely to select the overweight candidates for prestigious jobs, particularly female candidates. This kind of discrimination will inevitably worsen the inequality women experience in the workplace, especially for those seeking positions of authority.
Perhaps the ruling in Europe will make a difference for perspectives about obesity as a disability in the U.S., but it appears that (at least in the minds of the doctors surveyed) it’s still far from a widely accepted idea.
