Posts Tagged ‘weight discrimination’

Health insurance and business observers are noticing a growing blind spot for some businesses. These businesses more concerned with health costs than they are about discriminating against employees with physical or medical limitations. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) bars employers from compelling employees to provide personal health information for the purpose of health screening. The EEOC […]

Maybe good clinical care for people with obesity really is simple. Lawrence Cheskin of Johns Hopkins laid it out there in the midst of a session on treatment of severe obesity: “The more you pay attention to people, the better they do.” This epiphany comes from the American Society for Nutrition’s annual conference on Advances […]

In a remarkable display of misdirected anger, CEOs from the Business Roundtable are fuming because the EEOC (Equal Opportunity Employment Opportunity Commission) wants to bar them from fining employees for wellness. In the case that prompted this concern, the EEOC has taken action against Honeywell for a “voluntary” wellness program in which employees must enroll unless […]

Social justice provides a lens for examining obesity in a new book, Social Justice and the Urban Obesity Crisis — Implications for Social Work, by Melvin Delgado. For people with an interest in obesity, this book is well worth reading because it provides a fresh perspective on obesity that lies outside of the typical framework of public […]

“Obesity Rivals Smoking and War among Self-Inflicted Health Risks.” This headline from the LA Times, paired with a stereotypical “headless fatty” picture, was too much. The assertion that people with obesity should be blamed for it is a subtle, pernicious lie buried in the headline and reinforced with a dehumanizing image. It’s a lie repeated […]

UPDATE 11/19/2014: CDC spokesperson Brittany Behm confirms that CDC has taken down this website for review. She said “the recent attention to the LEAN Works! program caused us to put this part of the website at the top of the list for review, hence why it is currently down. The potential misuse of this information […]

At ObesityWeek 2014, Andrew Brown presented an elegant analysis of people first language in asthma, autism, diabetes, and obesity. He used Google Books nGram Viewer to examine how frequently people first language has been used over time in various conditions. His analysis shows that when it comes to putting people first, obesity is last. The preference for […]

The cover story in the new issue of Health Management call attention to our critical gap in understanding the biology of obesity. On the eve of ObesityWeek 2014, it’s appropriate that it’s authored by Rachel Batterham — who will be awarded the 2014 Lilly Scientific Achievement Award there — along with two of her colleagues, Andrea Pucci […]

Sarah Bramblette — recipient of the Obesity Action Coalition’s highest honor, Member of the Year — has been popping up everywhere lately. Just in the last few months, she has published an essay in a bioethics journal, won HealthCentral’s Live Bold anti-stigma photo contest, lobbied on Capitol Hill for the Lymphedema Treatment Act, and appeared […]

Full Figured Fashion Week (FFFW) — where plus fashion takes a bow annually in New York — appears to be a romp that people enjoy far more than the traditional New York Fashion Week. And it’s sparking some fascinating discussion of the social order of body size. In a word, the order is changing. According to […]