EU decrees to regard fat people as ‘disabled’. What of the slim?

The EU’s highest court weighing by decreeing that a former childminder who was so fat that he needed help from others to tie the shoelaces of his charges should be regarded as ‘disabled’ and accorded special help, certainly adds a new dimension to the obesity debate.

Crucially, the judgment makes no distinction between those whose adipose is due to plain gluttony and those with hormonal disorder-related weight gain. The F-word has been evoking diverse reactions in recent times, with the fabulously-fit US First Lady Michelle Obama practically declaring corpulence a crime against humanity.

So, with the battle against bulge gathering momentum, it is not surprising that the obese find themselves beleaguered and at least one among them has sought succour from the European judiciary.

However, by placing extreme girth on a human rights plane — thus preventing employers from discriminating on the basis of avoirdupois — the court may have set in motion prospective lawsuits by people of many other body types as well. If fat people deserve special treatment, arguably there should be concessions for the thin, the short, tall, dark, fair or indeed ugly or good-looking as all humans have some distinctive physical attributes. That, of course, would beg the question of who would be left to be regarded as ‘normal’.