The Word “Midget,” and Why We Don’t Say It
For some reason I’ve recently seen several different articles (not even shared by dwarfism community friends) about different sporting leagues, usually children’s leagues, being lobbied to remove the word “midget” as a classification. Inevitably, the comments of these news articles turn into a total (excuse my language) shitshow, and I see many MANY people complaining about the world today being too politically correct, calling people who are offended “snowflakes,” saying it isn’t meant in a mean way so people shouldn’t care, etc. I know I have expressed multiple times that midget is NOT an acceptable word, but I wanted to go more into why that is, so people understand where those in the dwarfism community are coming from. To most of the dwarfism community, the word “midget” is comparable to using the r-word to describe someone who is intellectually disabled. It’s beyond not cool. It’s hurtful and offensive and it makes me cringe every time I hear it. As a preface, I do not hold any animosity towards people who have used the word in the past and were unaware of the negative aspects. I myself wasn’t aware of how offensive it was until we started on this journey with Eli. But one of the hallmarks of maturity, in my opinion, is being willing to learn from others in different situations and embrace inclusivity, in whatever form that inclusivity might take.
First, let’s talk about the origin of the word. The word “midget” comes from the word midge, which means tiny fly. So yeah. Not a great start. Midget became a popular word to describe little people in the 1800s, during the freak show era. People used to pay money to go look at, and mock, people who were different in some way, usually by way of a physical disability. Along with little people, people missing limbs, conjoined twins, people with albinism, etc. were all common “curiosities” in these freak shows. Is it acceptable to mock amputees or people with albinism today? The answer to that question is a resounding no. So why is dwarfism different? This whole topic somewhat parallels what I wrote about last time as far as the treatment of dwarfs by society. Here is a great article about how dehumanizing, and frankly gross, freak shows were. And let’s also talk about the fact that the word midget was deemed socially acceptable by none other than P.T. Barnum, a man who made his name and his fortune by running freak shows. Not really the person I would take sensitivity training from.
Around that same time, it became common to differentiate between “midgets” and dwarfs. Dwarfs were considered to be little people who were not proportionate (as is the case with achondroplasia, where the trunk of the body is average sized and the limbs are shorter), and were treated worse than “midgets,” who were proportionate little people (KCS2, what Eli has, is a form of proportionate dwarfism, so his limbs and trunk will be proportionate to each other, just shorter than an average person). This (incorrect) method of differentiating has persisted for many years. I actually remember hearing this myself when I was younger, although I can’t remember the context of the conversation. Now that I am a member of the community, I can say with certainty no one who has anything to do with dwarfism differentiates diagnoses in this way anymore.
In more recent years, sporting events involving dwarfs (that usually take place at bars) have been termed things like “midget wrestling,” and “midget tossing.” There is more than a little controversy surrounding these events, as the dwarfs involved obviously consent to the activity and the terminology and actually profit off of it, but the vast majority of dwarfs don’t agree with these types of events and find “midget” to be an offensive term. Personally, I believe the bias against hiring people with dwarfism (and believe me, that bias is real, whether it’s conscious or unconscious doesn’t matter) puts people in situations where they end up participating in these events as a way to support themselves, even if it’s not what they would prefer to do. And all that doesn’t even touch on how dangerous these events can be for the people involved. Most forms of dwarfism come with tons of spine, joint, and bone issues that reach far beyond height, and being “tossed” is not advisable. I’ll point to the case of Martin Henderson, a person with dwarfism in the UK who was harassed and thrown (NOT during an event, he was just out in public living his life) by a drunk man, and ended up partially paralyzed from his injuries. I believe bodily autonomy is an important concept for all kids, but I am especially focused on teaching Eli that he is in charge of consent when it comes to any type of interaction, including things as simple as hugging family members. One of my worst fears is someone picking him up when he’s older because he’s so “small and cute” and injuring him.
So, all these reasons (and probably others I’m not as educated on) lead to midget being an extremely offensive term. And think about it, have you EVER heard anyone call another person a midget and NOT mean it in a bad way? At my previous job, a coworker disliked a man who parked in our parking garage and was on the shorter side. He often referred to him as a midget. Why? Because he didn’t actually know the man and the best thing he could think of to make fun of was the guy’s height. Another time at that job, we had a bad outcome, but our outcome wasn’t as disastrous as other competitors. A coworker likened it to “being the tallest midget in the room.” Because of course, being short=bad. (And if you’re curious, in both cases I spoke up and asked that they not use that word and explained why.) So, even though a “midget” little league classification probably isn’t a direct slight against little people, it’s still hurtful and offensive. A comment on one of the articles about this issue was someone saying not to make a mountain out of a molehill, and I saw the most perfect response from someone on our proverbial side. She said (paraphrasing), “Just because it’s a molehill to you, doesn’t mean it isn’t someone else’s mountain.” Think on that for a little while.
Now, what should you call people with dwarfism if you can’t say midget? Well, I’d start by suggesting you call them by their name. Because their height is just one thing about them, it doesn’t (and shouldn’t) define them. Most people use the term dwarf or little person. Little person is often shortened to LP, so when I’m talking to my friends about other parents of kids with dwarfism, I’ll usually say “other LP parents” or something like that. I would describe myself as an LP parent. It might seem disingenuous, because some people think “little person,” sounds offensive, and I can see why, but no one in the dwarfism community would be offended by that term. When I’m talking about Eli, I typically say he has dwarfism, instead of calling him a dwarf or a little person, because to me, dwarfism is just a facet of him, just like he also has brown hair and brown eyes and allergies. I don’t ever want it to be the primary descriptor I use when talking about him. It takes me about half a second longer to say, but that tiny bit of extra effort is the least I can do in terms of advocating for him.
-Kirsten McDonald
First, let’s talk about the origin of the word. The word “midget” comes from the word midge, which means tiny fly. So yeah. Not a great start. Midget became a popular word to describe little people in the 1800s, during the freak show era. People used to pay money to go look at, and mock, people who were different in some way, usually by way of a physical disability. Along with little people, people missing limbs, conjoined twins, people with albinism, etc. were all common “curiosities” in these freak shows. Is it acceptable to mock amputees or people with albinism today? The answer to that question is a resounding no. So why is dwarfism different? This whole topic somewhat parallels what I wrote about last time as far as the treatment of dwarfs by society. Here is a great article about how dehumanizing, and frankly gross, freak shows were. And let’s also talk about the fact that the word midget was deemed socially acceptable by none other than P.T. Barnum, a man who made his name and his fortune by running freak shows. Not really the person I would take sensitivity training from.
Around that same time, it became common to differentiate between “midgets” and dwarfs. Dwarfs were considered to be little people who were not proportionate (as is the case with achondroplasia, where the trunk of the body is average sized and the limbs are shorter), and were treated worse than “midgets,” who were proportionate little people (KCS2, what Eli has, is a form of proportionate dwarfism, so his limbs and trunk will be proportionate to each other, just shorter than an average person). This (incorrect) method of differentiating has persisted for many years. I actually remember hearing this myself when I was younger, although I can’t remember the context of the conversation. Now that I am a member of the community, I can say with certainty no one who has anything to do with dwarfism differentiates diagnoses in this way anymore.
In more recent years, sporting events involving dwarfs (that usually take place at bars) have been termed things like “midget wrestling,” and “midget tossing.” There is more than a little controversy surrounding these events, as the dwarfs involved obviously consent to the activity and the terminology and actually profit off of it, but the vast majority of dwarfs don’t agree with these types of events and find “midget” to be an offensive term. Personally, I believe the bias against hiring people with dwarfism (and believe me, that bias is real, whether it’s conscious or unconscious doesn’t matter) puts people in situations where they end up participating in these events as a way to support themselves, even if it’s not what they would prefer to do. And all that doesn’t even touch on how dangerous these events can be for the people involved. Most forms of dwarfism come with tons of spine, joint, and bone issues that reach far beyond height, and being “tossed” is not advisable. I’ll point to the case of Martin Henderson, a person with dwarfism in the UK who was harassed and thrown (NOT during an event, he was just out in public living his life) by a drunk man, and ended up partially paralyzed from his injuries. I believe bodily autonomy is an important concept for all kids, but I am especially focused on teaching Eli that he is in charge of consent when it comes to any type of interaction, including things as simple as hugging family members. One of my worst fears is someone picking him up when he’s older because he’s so “small and cute” and injuring him.
So, all these reasons (and probably others I’m not as educated on) lead to midget being an extremely offensive term. And think about it, have you EVER heard anyone call another person a midget and NOT mean it in a bad way? At my previous job, a coworker disliked a man who parked in our parking garage and was on the shorter side. He often referred to him as a midget. Why? Because he didn’t actually know the man and the best thing he could think of to make fun of was the guy’s height. Another time at that job, we had a bad outcome, but our outcome wasn’t as disastrous as other competitors. A coworker likened it to “being the tallest midget in the room.” Because of course, being short=bad. (And if you’re curious, in both cases I spoke up and asked that they not use that word and explained why.) So, even though a “midget” little league classification probably isn’t a direct slight against little people, it’s still hurtful and offensive. A comment on one of the articles about this issue was someone saying not to make a mountain out of a molehill, and I saw the most perfect response from someone on our proverbial side. She said (paraphrasing), “Just because it’s a molehill to you, doesn’t mean it isn’t someone else’s mountain.” Think on that for a little while.
Now, what should you call people with dwarfism if you can’t say midget? Well, I’d start by suggesting you call them by their name. Because their height is just one thing about them, it doesn’t (and shouldn’t) define them. Most people use the term dwarf or little person. Little person is often shortened to LP, so when I’m talking to my friends about other parents of kids with dwarfism, I’ll usually say “other LP parents” or something like that. I would describe myself as an LP parent. It might seem disingenuous, because some people think “little person,” sounds offensive, and I can see why, but no one in the dwarfism community would be offended by that term. When I’m talking about Eli, I typically say he has dwarfism, instead of calling him a dwarf or a little person, because to me, dwarfism is just a facet of him, just like he also has brown hair and brown eyes and allergies. I don’t ever want it to be the primary descriptor I use when talking about him. It takes me about half a second longer to say, but that tiny bit of extra effort is the least I can do in terms of advocating for him.
-Kirsten McDonald
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