Obese woman wins right for better parking spot.
Going by this headline alone, you could understandably assume that this woman somehow fought for, and got, a better parking spot simply because she was fat.
But what does the article say?
The first hint that things are not as they seem is right in the first sentence.
MONTREAL (CP) — A morbidly obese Quebec woman with various health problems has won her legal fight for a better parking spot.
Now, she's not just obese, but morbidly obese... with various health problems added almost as an afterthought.
What else is there?
Now we have two things.The 57-year-old resident of Sainte-Marie, Que., weighs 389 lbs., suffers from diabetes, needs a wheelchair, and gets help breathing from an oxygen tank.
She had tried to switch parking spaces with another condo dweller, but the neighbour refused and the condo association left the two to sort it out themselves.
One, she's in a wheelchair.
Two, her neighbour refused to switch parking spots with her.
Now imagine if there had been this, more accurate, headline. How would this change your perception?
Wheelchair bound woman wins right for better parking spot.Think about it for a moment. This woman's weight is irrelevant. Her diabetes and the fact that she needs an oxygen tank to breath is also irrelevant. When it comes to a parking spot, there's only one relevant fact.
She is in a frickin' wheelchair!
Full stop.
Nothing else is of issue.
Ah, but a neighbour refusing to switch spots with a wheelchair bound woman would be discriminatory. Refusing to switch spots with a woman that wants it because she's obese... well, who wouldn't refuse such a trite request?
There's another perception that's implied by the phrasing of this headline. Because this woman is first described as obese, it is implied that her weight is the reason she's in a wheelchair, diabetic, and breathing from an oxygen tank. It also suggests that someone who is so OMGFATZ!!! can't possibly also be mobile (though she still manages to operate a vehicle, or she wouldn't need the parking spot in the first place). Never mind that people just as heavy, and heavier, are not rended immobile by their weight and manage just fine, thankyouverymuch.
On the other hand, if she had first been described as being in a wheelchair, one might instead assume that her weight and other health problems are complications of whatever put her in the wheelchair in the first place. Either way, why she's in the chair doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that she is in a frickin' wheelchair! Seriously. The rest doesn't even need to be mentioned.
(As an aside, when we first moved to our current home, one of our new neighbours was in a wheelchair, needed oxygen, was diabetic and, yes, obese. She had considerable mobility problems. She was also active on many committees, and a great neighbour. None of her health problems, and certainly not her weight, kept her from being an active contributor to our community. I wish some of our able bodied neighbours would match even half of what this woman managed! Note I am speaking of her in the past tense. Sadly, about a month after we met her, she somehow fell out of her chair while alone at home, knocking the oxygen tubes loose. Unable to reach her help alarm, she died. The outpouring of grief from our new neighbours was a testament to how greatly loved and appreciated she was by our community.)
The Quebec Human Rights Association seems to get it, though.
Congratulations on your win, Marise!
The rights tribunal ruled that the condo association discriminated against the handicapped Myrand, and it ordered the association to pay $10,000 in damages.
UPDATE:
Lorne Gunter has weighed in on this story, from a different point of view.
Human rights' next fronteir: Your parking lot.
First off, I agree with Gunter, to a point. For there to be a human rights tribunal over a parking spot is ridiculous. It should never have gone that far. He also gives out a few more details in the story (apparently, Myrand is in a "handicap scooter," not a wheelchair. Which means that she's got some mobility, but still can't walk. She would still need an accessible spot.
The person who had the spot, on the other hand, claimed she needed it because she's 60, has a bum shoulder, and works late.
Hmmm... bad shoulder... can't walk...Which do YOU think is more of an issue?
His other point is that it's not the condo association's place to take parking spots from one person and give them to another.
I would need some clarification on this. As I understand it, people own their condos (or rent from independant owners), but parking lots are co-owned and assigned, similar to our own co-op parking situation. Individuals don't own their parking spots, and if necessary, the condo association can indeed change them around, if there were reason to. If I'm wrong, someone please correct me.
Unfotunately, Gunter still makes it about Myrand's weight.
Clearly, it's bad manners to wonder aloud whether someone who has allowed herself to become morbidly obese is now trying to use that condition to inch her vehicle closer to the entrance and save herself a few steps at the expense of a neighbour.
Excuse me?!? Allowed herself to become morbidly obese?!? WTF! Believe it or not, people don't "allow themselves" to become morbidly obese in the first place, and it again assumes that her weight is the cause of her health problems, rather than a symptom. There's so many things wrong with that statement, I don't know where to start. In the end, though, IT DOESN'T MATTER! This isn't about trying to "save herself a few steps at the expense of a neighbour." It's about NOT BEING ABLE TO WALK. Why is irrelevant. Would he say the neighbour who has the spot doesn't deserve it because she "allowed herself" to injure her shoulder?
Clearly, this is a case that involves a lot of bad blood between residents.
The Quebec tribunal claims Ms. Myrand was discriminated against because her neighbours used "insulting and degrading language" toward her and "violated the inclusive values promoted by our society." The condo association is also alleged at one point to have suggested Ms. Myrand might be using her obesity for personal benefit.
Gunter goes on to say that this is not about discrimination, but about selfishness - Myrand's selfishness, that is, for daring to be so damn fat she can't walk (never mind her other health issues), not her neighbour's for using her age and shoulder injury as a reason to keep it. Yeah. Right. No blind prejudice there, right?
We've got a parking spot that's very convenient, as far as our lot goes. It also happens to be a wheelchair accessible spot, as it's wider than the others, but not visibly marked as such. We got it because it was the last spot left. If our co-op came to us and asked us to move to a different spot because someone who was mobility challanged wanted it, we would move. This even though, between my husband and myself, we could argue that we have our own mobility challanges. Why? Aside from it just being the nice and neighbourly thing to do, it would be because WE DON'T OWN THE SPOT. The co-op does. We are co-owners of the entire facility, not any one part of it, so other members have as much right to that spot as we do. Unlike a co-op, a condo association wouldn't have to take it to a vote, with months of committee meetings.
Gunter is right in that this should never have been a human rights case at all. The government shouldn't have to step in on such a trivial issue. What he doesn't seem to wonder is how things degenerated to the point that it would have gone that far. That the condo association went from saying it wasn't their job to "take stalls from one owner and giving them to another" to apparently suggesting Myrand "might be using her obesity for personal benefit" smacks of discrimination, even if Gunter can't see it. This should have been resolved privately. Clearly, things escalated well beyond that and an outside organization had to step in.
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