What Can Disability Studies Contribute to the Treatment of People with Obesity?

Abstract

Disability studies relates to the study of the culture of disability and the experience of people with disabilities. What can disability studies teach us about the role of medical professionals in treating obesity? There has been a great deal of focus given to the social realities of stigma and discrimination affecting people with obesity and its related disabilities. However, there is little, if any, discussion concerning how emerging themes of disability studies can be applied to the health care of people with obesity. These themes are applicable to both people with obesity and morbid obesity. The definition of disability according to the American with Disabilities Act can be directly related to many of the impairments faced by people with obesity. There are key differences, both social and physical, between the disabled and the obese, but the similarities are directly relevant to the themes of disability studies in a health care setting. Disability studies address both the psychosocial and the physical aspects of treating people with disabilities through a framework in which providers treat the person and their health concerns rather than focus only on the disability. Treating people with obesity through a disability studies framework can help providers improve the psychological, behavioral, and physical aspects of care.