Why Do We Have a Vibrant Obesity Community?

The opening reception of the fourth annual Your Weight Matters National Convention brings just one question to mind. How has it come to pass that we have such a vibrant obesity community? What brings more than 500 hundred people from the U.S. — as well as other countries this year — to spend their own money and gather in San Antonio?

The energy is unmistakable. Pictures of friends finding each other are exploding on social media. The buzz of people who are thrilled to be in the safe, supportive company of others who accept them and understand some of their life experiences filled the hall for the opening reception last night.

The answer is simple. People are here for a sense of community — for an antidote to the toxic bias and hostility that greets people living with obesity every day. OAC members are quick and consistent in saying why they’re here: “no judgement, support, acceptance, shared passion, my other family.”

In other words, we now have a vibrant obesity community because we needed it. We needed it because our larger communities have, so far, failed us by addressing obesity mostly with blame and shame.

So now in the Obesity Action Coalition we have a vibrant community of like-minded people who are going to fix that mistake. That’s why OAC members make the difference.

Click here, here, and here to follow what’s happening at YWM2015.

Scavenger Hunt Fun at OAC YWM2015, photograph by Debera Gau via Twitter

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August 14, 2015