Sunday, September 23, 2001

 CALGARY (CP) -- Is obesity a disability?

 That's the weighty question facing a federal panel that could have heavy consequences for the transportation industry.

 Medical experts will begin debating the issue Monday before the Canadian Transportation Agency in a case unprecedented in Canada.

 Calgary law professor Linda McKay-Panos, who launched the process in 1997 after having to pay Air Canada for 1.5 seats because of her size, does not want to discuss the case.

 "There's a nervousness about how the matter will be dealt with and how she will be perceived," said her lawyer, Ritu Khullar.

 Khullar said there has been a tendency for commentators to mock the issue and just make jokes about fat people.

 "I think it takes an incredible amount of courage to stand up and even make the complaint . . . to not back down and get the issue on the public agenda."

 Up to now, Canada's Transportation Act has never specifically addressed who is disabled, preferring to leave that to airlines on an individual basis.

 "In most cases the disability of a complainant is quite obvious," said Michel Hebert, a Canadian Transportation Agency spokesman.

 The agency had to hire an independent lawyer, at up to $1,500 a day, to argue the obesity side because no group would take up the cause.

 Air Canada says with advance notice, it accommodates special needs passengers in ways ranging from pre-selecting seats with liftable or removable armrests to free on-board passage for seeing eye dogs. But the airline balks at any suggestion of being legislated to provide a free extra seat -- which is not done for any other passengers.

 An industry lobby group says Ottawa never intended for the agency to go "looking for clientele" -- only to reduce barriers for people with disabilities.

 "Obesity can disable people -- but there are many obese people who are clearly not disabled," said Warren Everson of the Air Transport Association of Canada.

 "Should people be entitled to extra seat space? Indeed, what people? All people who are obese? That would be a very difficult argument to make, because there are so many."

 About half of Canadian adults are overweight and almost one-third are considered obese.

 Dr. David Lau, one of the expert witnesses who will be called during the two weeks of hearings, said it's important to make the public aware that being overweight is a major health issue.

 But he wouldn't say if obesity is a disease, a disability or a condition.

 "Whatever the semantics, the health costs are enormous," said Lau, president of Obesity Canada, a non-profit group whose members include doctors, dietitians, nurses, researchers and health organizations.

 Research indicates that it costs at least $2 billion a year to treat obese Canadians for health-related maladies caused by their weight. A person's level of body fat can be a trigger to diabetes, heart disease or high blood pressure.

 Air Canada maintains that obesity is neither a disease nor or a disability and it will present experts supporting that stand, said its spokeswoman Renee Smith-Valade.

 "If obesity is classified as a disability for the purpose of the Canada Transportation Act, it would be virtually impossible for us to implement and enforce," she said.

 It could also force airlines, struggling for survival after the terrorist attacks in the United States, to increase fares.

 Air Canada allows obese passengers to buy a second seat at 50 per cent of the full economy fare within North America. But the discounted price is often higher than the excursion fares that most passengers pay.

 The same offer is available to anyone who wants to confirm an extra seat, including parents with a child under two years, or an incapacitated person travelling with a companion.

 If the panel rules obesity is a disability, it could have ramifications for the entire federally regulated transportation industry, including trains, trucks and buses.

 A plus-sized advocacy group says the best solution is for airlines -- and large people -- to try to accommodate each other.

 "Most fat people would be mortified if they were approached and asked to step on a scale before boarding a plane or told they'd have to have a tape measure determine if they would fit in a seat," said Frances White of the California-based National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance.

 Her group has a list of suggestions posted on the Internet for making travel more comfortable. That includes booking in off-hours when the plane is less likely to be full, requesting the seat with the largest amount of leg and arm room, and asking if the seat beside you remain empty if at all possible.

 "I happen to weigh the same amount as Shaquille O'Neal -- I just happen to be a foot and a half shorter than he is," said White, who weighs 350 pounds and stands 5-foot-5.

 "But I tell you that if Shaquille O'Neal ended up in the coach section of a plane, people would be delighted to sit next to him. I can walk down the aisle and see people cringing, (afraid) that I might sit next to them."