A couple more facts on Prader Willi Syndrome from someone who has a loved one that has it...
It is basically like a life long heroin addiction except to food that will never go away even if you maintain good habits for years and years. They are constantly craving food and are obsessed with getting it. Suggesting a person with PWS should “just control himself” is like suggesting to someone going through heroin withdrawal to “just get over it”. Then add to it the ubiquity of food and the relative scarcity of heroin. A person coming clean off of heroin can make the choice to stay away from heroin. A person with PWS trying to maintain weight and health can’t simply stay away from food. It is everywhere all the time.
The average IQ of someone with PWS is around 85.
To top it all off, while the average person requires 1500-2000 calories per day to maintain weight, people with PWS will gain weight on anything more than 800-1000 calories per day. The guy in this picture actually looks in incredible shape for someone with PWS. His care takers are doing a good job keeping food away from him.
One of the saddest things is that people with PWS usually have a very strong moral sense of right and wrong and feel terrible after they do things like what this guy did or just stealing food from the family fridge. I am not saying he shouldn’t be punished, he certainly should. There are thousands of people in the U.S. with PWS and you don’t hear about all of them breaking into homes. I am just suggesting compassion and empathy.
It is truly a very difficult life for people with PWS.
I grew up with a kid that had PWS. Not the brightest. His parents literally had to put pad locks on the refrigerator and kitchen cupboards to keep him out of the food. He could not stop himself. He even got in trouble with the law from it as well. He would eat food from gas stations and 7-11. Kind of sad to watch his health deteriorate over the years.