Letters to the Editor
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fatness, controlled or uncontrolled?
I think the underlying issue here is a question about to what degree a person who is obese has choosen to be so.
Are prospective parents in wheelchairs allowed to adopt? Are parents who have inhereted Type 1 diabetes allowed to adopt? Are colourblind parents allowed to adopt? Where do we draw the line between who should be allowed to adopt and who shouldnt when it comes to physical attributes?
You mention that: "To make things worse, Lannigan suffers from polycystic ovarian syndrome, a disease that can cause both fertility problems and weight gain."
In this case it appears that she is obese because of an underlying medical condition. How is that any different from a woman who was born without her right leg adopting? Both are physical handicaps resulting from inhereted medical conditions.
However, when it comes to 'fat people' we seem to be unable to decide if we should have sympathy for someone who has been handed the short-stick in the genetics lottery, or whether we should group them with smokers and alcholics.
Is being fat Lannigan's FAULT? Should she be punished by refusing her adoption request because she is fat as a result of her polycycstic ovarian syndrome? Or maybe she's just fat because she eats at McDonalds all the time.
Either way, it seems a bit rich to tell a prospective parent they can not adopt because of their weight, when millions of 'genetic' parents who are overweight are allowed to procreate at will.
And as a total sidenote to the poster above regarding Australia's history of the 'stolen generation': this issue is hardly related, and comparing the two seems completely irrelevant. Many countries have past or ongoing histories of removing indigenous children from their parents and putting them into state-run institutions, not just Australia. Just as many countries have laws relating to the weight of potential adoptive parents.