The similarities and intersectionalities between fatphobia and ableism:
Having to justify your disabilities
“You’re not disabled. You’re just fat.”
Your entire identity is your body
Your worth is based on your health
Other people thinking your health is their business
People define what you can and can’t do based on your body
Being soloed out as the person who’s different in a group
Feeling like you take up too much space or are a distraction/nuissance to others
People watch you use anything related to a disability and make you feel guilty for it
Being invisible in other minority communities
“Oh, let me help you!” No thanks. I don’t need your help with my disability/weight.
Society feeling the need to “fix” you
High rates of mental illness (which is a disability, in case anyone thought otherwise) due to constant discrimination
Those who aren’t affected by the issues you face due to oppression think it can all be wished away with self love.
Difficulty finding products that fit or work for you.
The designs of everyday essentials and technology are not made with you in mind
Society views your body as public property, public knowledge
Your entire representation in media being based on your disability/weight
Barely any representation in media at all
Your representation is just jokes made at your expense
Others erase your identity even when you’re represented
Your disability/weight is viewed as a choice (i.e. “Just exercise!” “Just stop listening to your anxiety!”)
Exercising being difficult due to disability, harassment, people making jokes about you, not being able to exercise in public due to discrimination, exercise products/clothes not made for you
Having to monitor how much you sit or relax because other people judge you for it
Not being allowed to be comfortable with or in your body
You’re phrased as a problem
Being made into only a bunch of statistics
Medicalization of your body
“You’re so brave!” “You’re so inspiring!” “That confidence!”
You’re not seen as “normal”
There’s apparently a “default body,” and you don’t have it
People can’t accept that you’ll likely never not have a disability/fat body type
Medical negligence
Don’t have the “default body?” You won’t be representing any group, organization, company, brand, or show unless they want diversity points
Arbritrary beauty standards are largely out of your grasp, but society will still force you to attempt to meet them
Being judged for what you eat (i.e. fat people being judged for eating literally anything and a person with a sensory disorder being judged for eating salmon with ketchup, the one thing they can manage to stomach because the ketchup masks the texture)
Having the audacity to exist
Loving yourself and your body is “revolutionary”
The staring
Trying to hide your disability/weight
The number on the scale and your mental illness are pieces of information forever locked away out of shame
Transportation and seating seem to be thin and able-bodied things
Skinny person: “Ugh, I’m so fat.” Able-bodied person: “This is crazy!” Neither of them realize why those sentences aren’t okay
People assume your disability is because of your weight. It’s astonishing to them that some disabilities, conditions, treatments, and medicines can…cause weight gain??? Whaaaaaaaat? /sarcasm
Considering you is seen as an accommodation
Any disability you have must be a physical disability because you’re fat and only physical disabilities are “real”
Body type/weight and many disabilities are hereditary but apparently not to the eyes of the public. You made a “Choice.”
Excluded from fashion
The visual idea of youth that everyone has doesn’t include fat or disabled people. Only older people are fat and disabled
Having to put a disclaimer on any dating profile to warn the other person that you’re fat/disabled
Your body makes other people “uncomfortable”
Being infantilized
You’re never allowed to be attractive. The most you can be is cute
You’re a fetish
Thin and able-bodied people replace you in roles. They either wear fat suits and pretend to be disabled or your identity is erased entirely
Fat and disabled people apparently don’t have sex! Ever! Not according to society at least
Dating means worrying about if the other person will like you “despite” your weight/disability
Family, friends, peers, strangers all force you to recover (either from your disability if possible or from your weight through dieting) and become angry when you’re not good enough to them yet because they don’t understand that this is you
“You’re supposed to be like this!!”
Anything is better than being fat or disabled in other people’s minds. They’d rather not get vaccinations or will starve until they develop an eating disorder in order to keep from being you. They don’t even understand why you’re the way you are. People are obsessed with not being like you in any way
Entire industries benefit off of your suffering
That representation you’d like? Yeah, only in health textbooks that tell people what not to be
Misinformation is incredibly common. That misinformation is used to oppress you further. Most people don’t understand you or your life experiences
Having to hear everyone’s opinion on your life
Living in a world that ignores you exist
