Fat People Are Not Handicapped!

Fat is society's terminology of being overweight beyond the normal weight standards according to the American Medical Association; therefore, it is stereotypical of me to say that a five-foot four-inch woman with a medium bone structure who weighs about one hundred and eighty pounds is fat. But fat is not only determined by physical appearance but also with body mass index or "BMI" and this is measured with current height and weight "The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's obesity guidelines propose that doctors use body mass index (BMI) to assess patients because the index is simple, correlates to fatness, and applies to both men and women." (New York Times, 2000) My BMI is 30.9 and BMI levels between 25 to 29.9 is overweight while anything over that is obese, therefore I am considered obese according to national standards.

I am five foot four-inches tall and weigh about 180 pounds. Yes, I am fat, but am I physically handicap? Let's evaluate the definition of being physically handicap. Being physically handicapped is defined as "A physical or mental impairment that results in anatomical, physiological, or psychological abnormalities which are demonstrable by medically acceptable clinical or laboratory diagnostic techniques and which are expected to last for a continuous period of time not less than 12 months in duration" according Managed Healthcare Information Services. A physical or mental impairment simply means the inability to move physical or be mentally comprehensive. I can still jump a three-foot concrete wall, run three laps without taking a break, and feed myself without a napkin hanging from my neck.

The stereotype of being fat and physically handicap stems from extreme cases of obesity where the affected is unable to stand for long periods or walk without assistance. Football players like Mike Alstott, a Full Back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has a BMI of 32.7 or Jacksonville Jaguars Line Backer, Akin Ayodele, who measures his BMI at 32.1. These athletes are obese according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, however, they are involved in extreme sport activity.
Being fat and physically handicap is purely by choice it isn't a fact that applies to every overweight person. The handicap lies in the inability to move extensively and obese people over three hundred pounds are physically limited, but in no way are they disabled. A little more effort and they can walk or move.

Clearly, the stereotype is outrageously overstated and should be more refined in its entirety, because it not only hurts the reputation of those who are obese, but physically able, but also completely false. Imagine if the professional public were to believe this statement as fact, I would never be able to get into the military or get an opportunity to test for the Police Department. I would have been condemned before I can prove myself.

And by virtue of Charlotte Cooper, a fat writer who has published many books and articles about the "fat" concept and its relationship with culture, she facetiously states, "... my impairment is blatant, nobody can deny that I am fat, and I am disabled by many aspects of the culture in which I live. Yet, I still experience a gnawing sensation that 'disabled' is a group to which I cannot belong; obviously, there are no membership cards to this group and no one has told me (yet) that I cannot 'join'." (Cooper 1997). Hence, although the prejudice of being fat can be physically disturbing, or disturbed, fat people are NOT physically handicap.