Posted on 06/17/2014 2:58:09 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
The case comes to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) from Denmark, where 350-pound child caretaker Karsten Kaltoft says he was fired from his position for being too fat. Kaltoft's employer, Billund Kommune, said his dismissal had nothing to do with his weight and was the result of an overall decrease in childcare enrollments.
But the case could reverberate far beyond the particular fates of Kaltoft and Billund. If the ECJ decides to label obesity a disability, it would be be binding throughout the European Union.
"If obesity is classified as a disability, the effect for employers could be profound," said Audrey Williams, a partner at the London law firm Eversheds. "Obesity, however it will come to be defined, would need to be approached just like any other physical or mental impairment." In addition to affecting discrimination cases, the designation could change how employers are obligated to accommodate obese employees.
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
NO.
Next.
The handicap parking spots at Wall-mart are generally taken by hugely fat people whose only handicap appears to be they’re FAT. They also take the electric scooters when they appear to walk just fine. (The best part is, the complain about how slow they are. Talk about entitlement!)
“electric scooters”
Blubb - A - Rounds
Only if the weight is brought on by a ‘proven’ malfunction in the body.
I’ve never held to the opinion that alcoholism is a disease or disability, and I don’t think obesity is either. For those who hold that alcoholism is, and obesity is not, how can you rationally justify the distinction?
I don't even know why they put wheelchairs on those signs anymore. I can't recall the last time I saw someone in a handicapped parking space using one.
Medicines can make one over weight.
I think alcohol is like cigarettes. Choice in the beginning.
Once started very difficult to stop but not a disability.
If your 5 foot 6 and weigh 350 pounds and consume a whole chicken, half a loaf of bread, 4 beers, half a quart of beans and potato salad, and polish it off with half a cheese cake in one meal, No. Your just being a pig.
Yes. IT is a disability.
But it's not a protected class that needs government rules (or laws), accommodations, or awareness programs of any sort.
Well if the powers that be (government, cough, cough) view it as an epidemic demanding a full scale public health response than the only question remaining is; does being obese meet the accepted definition of a disability under current definitions and standards? In the U.S. under the ADA a disability is defined as,
“(A) a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities of such individual;”
IF ECJ uses such a standard than yes morbid obesity (and for some people perhaps obesity) would be a disability.
Don’t be too quick to judge. There are are sorts of conditions that necessitate a wheel chair, even if the person can walk short distances. The electric scooters don’t begin to equalize things, with those of us who are not similarly afflicted.
NO refined sugar
NO flour
NO grains
NO processed foods
NO juice
Eat everything else. The pounds will fall off.
We passed the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and employers just quit hiring the disabled.
No, although it can be a secondary effect of other potentially disabling issues such as thyroid or sleep disorders.
What makes most fat people fat?
Carbohydrates.
Especially wheat (including whole wheat) and other grains (including whole grains and sugar and high fructose corn syrup.)
The recipe for weight loss and better health? Limiting carbos (lots of good resources on how much), and eliminating wheat and other grains and sugar, all to the extent possible.
(Disclaimer, I'm not a nutrition professional, do your own dd).
I had my feet operated on. I could walk and look normal doing so, but the pain was outrageous. I was 58 and, although not fat, I decided to lose weight to see if it would help. Even though the doctor said my weight was low for my age and musculature I lost 30 pounds. I can now walk almost anywhere within reason. (I did do a mile cave tour but I was hurting for days.) I now look like I’m getting ready for a muscle contest.
The people I’m talking about are grossly obese. They pile up the basket with chips and fatty food. They are complicit in any problems they have. So, yes there are problems but like asthmatics smoking and people with liver problems drinking I have little sympathy for people who do nothing to help themselves.
Follow all the above “NOs” but chronic Lyme DZ and associated Fibro and CFS severely limit activity level. It isn’t all that EASY sometimes and I wish it on no one.
Not following you. Obesity and Lyme disease are in no way related. My sister had Lyme disease.
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