Is Obesity a Disability - Essay Example

ESUS 3 Assignment Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 1st paragraph 3 2nd paragraph 4 3rd paragraph 5 4th paragraph 6 5Th Paragraph 7 6Th Paragraph 8 Conclusion 8 References 9 Introduction Obesity is a serious situation and it is rapidly increasing in the past few years. Obesity may follow the disability allowance in the working place. Obesity leads to the emergence of various diseases such as arthritis, heart attacks, stroke, and diabetes etc. The European Court of justice reported that an individual cannot claim benefit due to obesity. Obesity can be treated as a disease when an individual cannot perform his normal day to day activities. 1st paragraph A. Obesity is considered as a disability and disease. It is compared with smoking of cigarette, since consumption of cigarette contributes to poor health and leads to many diseases such as cancer, emphysema etc. Similarly obesity adversely affects the health of an individual by increasing various cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks, stroke etc, psychosocial problems, orthopaedic and respiratory difficulties. B. Obesity is measured as the main reason for damage of mitochondria required for metabolism and energy regulations (Bailer, 2015). Obesity is considered as the interaction of the social, cultural, genetic predisposition and environmental influences. C. The European court of justice suggests that Obesity should not be treated as the disability. The causes of obesity may demand for discrimination protection. The insurance department was of the opinion that people cannot claim insurance for receiving the disability benefit only because they are obese. The claim management is required to investigate various aspects and parameters of obesity and its impact on the morbidity psychosocial problems. The American Medical Association revealed in their research that obesity is considered as the illness and it can be considered as one of the factor contribution towards development of disability, but it cannot be regarded as the only factor. D. The European law does not discriminate on the ground of obesity, it may result in disability in future.ECJ judgment suggest that the symptoms of obesity may result in discrimination protection. But it cannot be regarded as the only element of disability, since the mental imbalance also results in disability of the person but it does not have any relation with obesity. Therefore obesity related claim discrimination may become a possibility. The employees should not be discriminated on the basis of obesity in the work place. 2nd paragraph A. Kartsen Kaltoft from Denmark was discharged from his job on the basis of obesity, but the Danish authority board and the union criticized against such discrimination made against the employee of the organization on the basis of obesity. The Union was on the behalf of the employee protesting against such rule of discharging out on the basis of obesity. The European Union law protects the employees from being treated and discriminated less favourably on the basis of age, sexual orientation and disability. B. The district court claimed that the case of the dismissal was not certain whether Mr. Kaltoft will be provided protection under the name of law. Therefore the District court asked the European Court of Justice for ruling. Mr Kaltoft was discriminated on the ground of obesity which is still considered as a matter of suspicion for the Dutch court. The court of justice formulated that the European law does not discriminate any employees on the basis of obesity, but it is a matter of doubt for the Dutch court that whether obesity should be considered as disability (McKinney, 2014). C. The court suggested that obesity should not be regarded as disability because it does not restricts a person from performing his assigned duties and responsibilities and it does not limit a person in contributing his effort towards the organization. The court is expected to protect or safeguard the employees if they are discriminated on the ground of obesity. D. when the case of Mr Kaltoft is placed in the Dutch court, the court decided that obesity should be measured as disability if it affects his performance and should not be treated as disabled only due to his obesity. The European justice commented that obesity should be well thought as disability when the employees face difficulties or problems in performing their responsibility in the work place. Therefore obesity is not disability it may result in disability in the future. 3rd paragraph A. Obesity results in the occurrence of the common health problems such as anxiety and depression. The obese people encounter various mental problems such as bipolar and psychotic disorders. Obesity may also result in mental illness and disorders. Obesity can lead to pain, functional limitations, physical inactivity and mental distress. B. Obesity is mainly related with four disabling condition such as mental disorders, arthritis, back pain and learning disabilities. The mental impairment has adverse affect on the performance of the worker in the organization and it also affects the ability of the individual in performing his day to day activities. Mental disorders affects the practical and social life of a person since it restricts him from effective and full participation on same basis in the society as compared to others (Gatineau, Hancock and Dent, 2013). C. Mental illness or disorders is regarded as the second important cause of disability. The National Statistics revealed that 16.2% of people in England mainly suffer from the common health problems such as anxiety and depression. Out of the total people suffering from the mental disorder due to obesity are 19.7% of people are women and 12.5% of individuals are men. 0.5% of people mainly suffer from psychotic and bipolar disorders. The research indicated that obesity is found to be more prevalent among the individuals suffering from serious mental illness and disability. D. According to the National statistics it is stated that 55% of people who are obese suffers from anxiety and depression. The individuals who are depressed have 58% chance or probability of becoming obese. The depressed people are less enthusiastic to work effectively as a result they dislike performing mobility related activities due to increase in weight. Thus obesity can result in the mental illness or disorders which restrict an individual in performing various activities in the work place. 4th paragraph A. Obesity is considered as an important factor leading to dangerous diseases. Therefore it is a matter of concern and it leads to the occurrence of major diseases which includes diabetes, coronary heart diseases, hypertension, stroke and osteoarthritis. In United States Obesity is regarded as the second important reason of preventable disease and death next to smoking and in England majority of death occurred due to obesity. B. In a research study it was found that 7% of people in England die due to obesity. Increase in the rate of morbidity and mortality cost of obesity imposes serious financial burden on the economy and the society. Obesity is a rapidly and fast growing health problem that affects large number of individuals in different countries across the world. The research carried out in different parts of the world such as New Zealand, France, Canada, United States, Australia and England revealed that 1% to 8% of the expenditure cost increased due to the rise in obesity among the individuals. C. The economic cost associated with obesity is not affordable for some companies. The economic cost of obesity in United States is more than 12 dollar billion and the cost in England are in excess of 15 million days of the medical assured certificate of sickness due to absence of the employees from work due to the increase in obesity each year (Morris, 2006). D. Obese employees suffer more from stigmatization as compared to the non obese employees since they are discriminated more and it also treated as a cause for increase in unemployment. The obese people are found to be less productive as compared to the non obese people and therefore they are not preferred to be employed in the organization. The employers are of the view that the obese people are less productive and they cannot contribute effectively in the organization. Thus disease resulting from obesity and social stigmatization results in increase in the unemployment rate. 5Th Paragraph ECJ opined that obesity should be considered as disability if it creates obstacles towards effective and full participation of the person on same basis with other employees while performing their task. The various risk factors mainly include the obesity, level of education, sex and other socio economic conditions (Butcher, 2008). 6Th Paragraph Obesity also results in various other negative impacts on the economic outcome of the country or the nation. Obese employees are less preferred in the work place due to their disability. Obesity also results in increasing the rate of unemployment in the economy (Cawley, 2011). Conclusion Obesity cannot be treated as disability but it can be considered as one of the cause or reason contributing towards disability. Obesity may result in various physical and mental problems of an individual. The disease occurred due to obesity decreases the effort and likeness of an individual towards the work; it restricts an individual against performing his day to day activities. The obese people generally suffer from more discrimination and stigmatization as compared to others due to their disability of performing as compared to other employees Therefore they are likely to face discrimination in the workplace. The European Court of Justice reported that obesity should be considered as disease when it restricts an individual or employees in performing his task in the work place. References Bailer, P., 2015. Is Obesity a Disability? [Online] Available at: < http://www.genre.com/knowledge/blog/is-obesity-a-disability.html >. [Accessed on 25 June 2015]. Butcher, K.F., 2008. Obesity, Disability, and the Labor Force. New York: DIANE Publishing. Cawley, J., 2011. The Oxford Handbook of the Social Science of Obesity. New York: OUP USA. Gatineau, M., Hancock, C. and Dent, M., 2013. Obesity and disability. [pdf] Available at : < http://www.noo.org.uk/uploads/doc/vid_18474_obesity_dis.pdf >. [Accessed on 25 June 2015] McKinney, C., 2014. Factcheck: Did the EU rule that obesity is a disability? [Online] Available at: < https://fullfact.org/factcheck/law/did_eu_rule_obesity_is_disability-37732 >. [Accessed 25 June 2015]. Morris, S., 2006. The impact of obesity on employment. Labor Economics. 14. (2007). pp. 413-433. Read More