380 For findings of a relatively contented childhood, see Alasdair G. W. Hunter’s three-part report, “Some psychosocial aspects of nonlethal chondrodysplasias,” American Journal of Medical Genetics 78, no. 1 (June 1998); James S. Brust et al., “Psychiatric aspects of dwarfism,” American Journal of Psychiatry 133, no. 2 (February 1976); Sarah E. Gollust et al., “Living with achondroplasia in an average-sized world: An assessment of quality of life,” American Journal of Medical Genetics 120A, no. 4 (August 2003); and M. Apajasalo et al., “Health-related quality of life of patients with genetic skeletal dysplasias,” European Journal of Pediatrics 157, no. 2 (February 1998).
381 Joan Ablon’s comment about overprotectiveness occurs on page 64 of Living with Difference (1988).
382 Richard Crandall’s words of warning about strollers occur on page 49 of his book Dwarfism: The Family and Professional Guide (1994).
383 For the Restricted Growth Association survey, see Tom Shakespeare, Michael Wright, and Sue Thompson, A Small Matter of Equality: Living with Restricted Growth (2007); conclusions about parental treatment and eventual emotional adjustment can be found on page 25.
384 A significant incidence of depression in young adults was found in Alasdair G. W. Hunter, “Some psychosocial aspects of nonlethal chondrodysplasias, II: Depression and anxiety,” American Journal of Medical Genetics 78, no. 1 (June 1998); see also Sue Thompson, Tom Shakespeare, and Michael J. Wright, “Medical and social aspects of the life course for adults with a skeletal dysplasia: A review of current knowledge,” Disability & Rehabilitation 30, no. 1 (January 2008). Hunter cautiously ventures that “adults who were born to unaffected parents may be at greater risk of depression than those who had an affected parent” (page 12).
385 Joan Ablon describes common emotional experiences associated with LPA membership in chapter 8 of Little People in America: The Social Dimension of Dwarfism (1984), “The encounter with LPA.”
386 The study finding that dwarfs have lower self-esteem, less education, and lower annual incomes, and are less likely to be married is Sarah E. Gollust et al., “Living with achondroplasia in an average-sized world: An assessment of quality of life,” American Journal of Medical Genetics 120A, no. 4 (August 2003).
387 The survey finding significant income disparity between people with dwarfism and their average-size family members is described in Betty Adelson, Dwarfism: Medical and Psychosocial Aspects of Profound Short Stature (2005), page 259.
388 Michael Ain describes his job-hunting difficulties in Lisa Abelow Hedley’s documentary Dwarfs: Not a Fairy Tale (2001); see also Jonathan Bor’s article “Stature of surgeon is not about height: Dr. Michael Ain’s genes put a stop to his growth but not to his determination to excel in medicine,” Baltimore Sun, September 6, 1998. Ain is coauthor with Eric D. Shirley of “Achondroplasia: Manifestations and treatment,” Journal of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons 17, no. 4 (April 2009).
389 The quotation from Ruth Ricker was recounted to me by Dan Kennedy in 2003.
390 All quotations from John Wolin come from his article “Dwarf like me,” Miami Herald, January 24, 1993.
391 The LP who described the experience of seeing other dwarfs for the first time was quoted in Ken Wolf, “Big world, little people,” Newsday, April 20, 1989.
392 This passage is based on my interview with Janet and Beverly Charles in 2003.
393 This passage is based on my interview with Leslye Sneider and Bruce Johnson in 2005 and subsequent communications. Leslye is now associated with Disability Rights New Mexico and edits the organization’s newsletter, The Advocate.
394 Basic sources on dwarf-tossing include Alice Domurat Dreger, “Lavish dwarf entertainment,” Hastings Center Bioethics Forum, March 25, 2008; and Deborah Schoeneman, “Little people, big biz: Hiring dwarfs for parties a growing trend,” New York Post, November 8, 2001.
395 The passage of New York’s “Dwarf Tossing and Dwarf Bowling Prohibition” (1990 NY Laws 2744) was reported in Elizabeth Kolbert, “On deadline day, Cuomo vetoes 2 bills opposed by Dinkins,”New York Times, July 24, 1990.
For more on the French ban and challenge, see the report of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, Views of the Human Rights Committee under article 5, paragraph 4, of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Seventy-fifth session, Communication No. 854/1999, submitted by Manuel Wackenheim (July 15, 2002); and Emma Jane Kirby’s BBC report “Appeal for ‘dwarf-tossing’ thrown out,” British Broadcasting Corporation, September 27, 2002.
The Florida ban and challenge are described in “Dwarf tossing ban challenged,” United Press International, November 29, 2001; and “Federal judge throwing dwarf-tossing lawsuit out of court,” Florida Times-Union, February 26, 2002.
396 Law enforcement crackdowns against dwarf-tossers and bowlers are described in Steven Kreytak, “Tickets issued for dwarf-tossing,” Newsday, March 11, 2002; and Eddie D’Anna, “Staten Island nightspot cancels dwarf-bowling event for Saturday,” Staten Island Advance, February 27, 2008.
397 The Fidelity party and SEC penalty are described in Jason Nisse, “SEC probes dwarf-tossing party for Fidelity trader,”Independent, August 14, 2005; and Jenny Anderson, “Fidelity is fined $8 million over improper gifts,” New York Times, March 6, 2008.
398 For comparison of dwarf-tossing with contact sports, see Robert W. McGee, “If dwarf tossing is outlawed, only outlaws will toss dwarfs: Is dwarf tossing a victimless crime?,” American Journal of Jurisprudence 38 (1993). The real-life consequence of the idea that dwarf-tossing is acceptable behavior was most recently demonstrated when a thirty-seven-year-old man with achondroplasia sustained permanent spinal cord damage after being unwillingly tossed by a boor at a British pub, likely inspired by the Mike Tindall escapade; news of the incident inspired a number of dwarf celebrities to speak out in solidarity and concern. See the news reports “Dwarf left paralysed after being thrown by drunken Rugby fan,” Telegraph, January 12, 2012; “Golden Globes: Peter Dinklage cites Martin Henderson case,” Los Angeles Times, January 16, 2012; and Alexis Tereszcuk, “The little couple slam dwarf tossing,” Radar Online, March 20, 2012. See also Angela Van Etten, “Dwarf tossing and exploitation,” Huffington Post, October 19, 2011.
399 Wife-carrying, however, is a traditional Finnish sport; the man who carries his wife the farthest through an obstacle course wins her weight in beer. The annual world championships are held in Sonkajärvi, Finland; see http://www.eukonkanto.fi.
400 The discussion of Radio City and LPA and the quotations by dwarf actors are all from Lynn Harris, “Who you calling a midget?,” Salon, July 16, 2009. For more on the debate about dwarfs as entertainers, see Chris Lydgate, “Dwarf vs. dwarf: The Little People of America want respect—and they’re fighting each other to get it,” Willamette Week, June 30, 1999.
401 Herschel Walker’s and Joan Rivers’s offensive Celebrity Apprentice episode (season 8, episode 6) was broadcast on April 5, 2009. Jimmy Korpai’s complaint to the FCC about Celebrity Apprentice is described in Lynn Harris, “Who you calling a midget?,” Salon, July 16, 2009.
402 The first scientific studies on Homo floresiensis were Peter Brown et al., “A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia,” Nature 431, no. 7012 (October 27, 2004); and Michael J. Morwood et al., “Archaeology and age of a new hominin from Flores in eastern Indonesia,” Nature 431, no. 7012 (October 27, 2004). New Scientist’s first article on the subject referred to the find as Homo floresiensis, but subsequent articles adopted the term hobbits; compare Will Knight and Rachel Nowak, “Meet our new human relatives,” New Scientist, October 30, 2004, to “Tug of war over access to ’hobbit’ bones,” New Scientist, December 11, 2004, and Adrian Barnett, “Hobbit brain ’too small’ to be new species,” New Scientist, May 27, 2006. The term hobbits was also adopted by the scientists themselves; Morwood used it in the title of his full-length book on the discovery, A New Human: The Startling Discovery and Str
ange Story of the “Hobbits” of Flores, Indonesia (2007). For more on the current state of research re Homo floresiensis, see Leslie Aiello, “Five years of Homo floresiensis,” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 142, no. 2 (2010).
403 Alexander Chancellor’s commentary occurs in his article “Guide to age,” Guardian, November 6, 2004.
404 For information on the plight of Pygmies in modern Africa, see Minorities under Siege: Pygmies Today in Africa (2006); and African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, Report of the African Commission’s Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities: Research and information visit to the Republic of Gabon, 15–30 September 2007 (2010).
405 Responses to proposals to ban use of the term midget are described by Lynn Harris in “Who you calling a midget?,” Salon, July 16, 2009.
406 This passage is based on my many interviews with Betty Adelson between 2003 and 2012.
407 Quotations from mothers bereft at Kopits’s passing were posted as reader comments at Bertalan Mesko, “Dr. Steven E. Kopits, a modern miracle maker,” Science Roll, January 27, 2007, http://scienceroll.com/2007/01/27/dr-steven-e-kopits-a-modern-miracle-maker. Betty Adelson describes Kopits’s impact on the lives of his patients and their families on pages 57–66 of Dwarfism (2005). Patients’ feelings of gratitude and indebtedness to Kopits are abundantly reflected in the title of Brad Lemley’s article “Dr. Steven Kopits: The little people’s god,” Washington Post Magazine, December 9, 1984; see also Jean Marbella, “Doctor soothes little people,” Orlando Sun-Sentinel, February 3, 1985; and Gary Gately, “Maryland site offers hope for crippling condition,” New York Times, December 11, 1988.
142 For additional sources on dwarfs in history and varied cultures, see L.A. Malcolm, “Dwarfism amongst the Buang of Papua New Guinea,” Human Biology 45, no. 2 (1973); David W. Frayer, “A case of chondrodystrophic dwarfism in the Italian late upper paleolithic,” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 75 (1988); Veronique Dasen, “Dwarfs in Athens,” Oxford Journal of Archaeology 9, no. 2 (July 1990), and her book, Dwarfs in Ancient Egypt and Greece (1993); “Richard III: A royal pituitary dwarf?,” The Lancet 338, no. 8765 (August 24, 1991); Yoram S. Carmeli, “From curiosity to prop: A note on the changing cultural significances of dwarves’ presentations in Britain,” Journal of Popular Culture 26, no. 1 (Summer 1992); Kurt Aterman, “From Horus the child to Hephaestus who limps: A romp through history,” American Journal of Medical Genetics 83A, no. 1 (March 1999); M. Miles, “Signing in the Seraglio: Mutes, dwarfs and jesters at the Ottoman Court 1500–1700,” Disability & Society 15, no. 1 (January 2000); James C. Haworth and Albert E. Chudley. “Dwarfs in art,” Clinical Genetics 59, no. 2 (February 2001); P. W. Dixon, “The Hawaiian Menehune in myth and paleontology,” Human Evolution 19, no. 4 (2004); Catherine Closet-Crane, “Dwarfs as seventeenth-century cynics at the court of Philip IV of Spain: A study of Velazquez’ portraits of palace dwarfs,” Atenea 35, no. 1 (June 2005); E. S. Aristova, “Pituitary dwarfism in an early Bronze Age individual from Tuva,” Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 27, no. 3 (September 2006); Barbara M. Benedict, “Displaying difference: Curious Count Boruwlaski and the staging of class identity,” Eighteenth-Century Life 30, no. 3 (2006); Chahira Kozma, “Dwarfs in ancient Egypt,” American Journal of Medical Genetics 140A, no. 4 (February 15, 2006); and Chahira Kozma, “Skeletal dysplasia in ancient Egypt,” American Journal of Medical Genetics 146A, no. 23 (December 2008).
408 For more information on cultural interpretations of physical difference, see David M. Turner, “Introduction: Approaching anomalous bodies,” in Social Histories of Disability and Deformity: Bodies, Images and Experiences, edited by David M. Turner and Kevin Stagg (2006), pages 1–16.
409 Leviticus 21:16–24 (American Standard Version): “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to Aaron, saying, “No man of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect shall approach to offer the food of his God. For no one who has a defect shall approach: a blind man, or a lame man, or he who has a disfigured face, or any deformed limb, or a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye or eczema or scabs or crushed testicles. No man among the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a defect is to come near to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire; since he has a defect, he shall not come near to offer the food of his God. He may eat the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy, only he shall not go in to the veil or come near the altar because he has a defect, so that he will not profane My sanctuaries. For I am the Lord who sanctifies them.”’ So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel.”
410 The 1932 horror film Freaks, directed by Tod Browning, featured real-life carnival sideshow performers, including people with microcephaly and missing limbs, conjoined twins, and dwarfs. Audiences were shocked by the film’s cast and violent conclusion, to the extent that Freaks was banned in the UK for thirty years. Since being revived in the early 1960s, Freaks has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry; the film ranks fifteenth on Bravo TV’s list of the 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
411 Martha Undercoffer’s comments were made in a Yahoo! discussion group post on September 23, 2002.
412 The quotation from the dwarf who uses an MP3 player to block out unwanted comments occurs on page 29 of Tom Shakespeare, Michael Wright, and Sue Thompson, A Small Matter of Equality (2007).
413 This passage is based on my interview with Harry Wieder in 2003 and subsequent communications. His memorial service is described in Susan Dominus, “Remembering the little man who was a big voice for causes,” New York Times, May 1, 2010.
414 William Safire refers to “cruel folklore” and “Rumpelstiltskins” in “On language: Dwarf planet,”New York Times, September 10, 2006.
415 Joan Ablon’s comment about the magical status of dwarfs occurs on page 6 of Living with Difference (1988).
416 Anne Lamott’s remark occurs on page 25 of Tom Shakespeare, Michael Wright, and Sue Thompson, A Small Matter of Equality (2007).
417 This passage is based on my interview with Taylor, Carlton, and Tracey van Putten in 2008 and subsequent communications.
418 Scholarly articles on spondylometaphyseal dysplasia include G. W. Le Quesne and K. Kozlowski, “Spondylometaphyseal dysplasia,” British Journal of Radiology 46 (September 1973); and P. S. Thomas and N. C. Nevin, “Spondylometaphyseal Dysplasia,” American Journal of Roentgenology 128, no. 1 (January 1977).
419 Carlton David’s album, One, was released on the Whitestone Records label in 2004 and can be purchased via CD Baby.
420 The quotation from the LP about dwarfs’ romantic difficulties occurs on page 241 of Betty M. Adelson, Dwarfism (2005).
421 John Wolin’s remarks occur in his article “Dwarf like me,” Miami Herald, January 24, 1993.
422 The comment about the sexual incongruity between LPs and APs comes from an LPA chat room, April 15, 2006.
423 The quotation from Harry Wieder comes from my interview with him.
424 Betty Adelson describes attitudes toward mixed-height marriages on pages 57–58 and page 246 of Dwarfism (2005).
425 Increased rates of depression in LPs in mixed-height marriages were reported by Alasdair Hunter in “Some psychosocial aspects of nonlethal chondrodysplasias, II: Depression and anxiety,” American Journal of Medical Genetics 78, no. 1 (June 1998); and “Some psychosocial aspects of nonlethal chondrodysplasias, III: Self-esteem in children and adults,”American Journal of Medical Genetics 78 (June 1998).
426 On dwarfs’ marriage tendencies inside and outside LPA, I’ve relied on personal communications with Betty Adelson.
427 John Wolin’s remarks occur in his article “Dwarf like me,” Miami Herald, January 24, 1993.
428 For scholarly overviews of reproductive complications and anesthesia in achondroplastic dwarfs, see Judith E. Allanson and Judith G. Hall, �
��Obstetric and gynecologic problems in women with chondrodystrophies,” Obstetrics & Gynecology 67, no. 1 (January 1986); and James F. Mayhew et al., “Anaesthesia for the achondroplastic dwarf,” Canadian Anaesthetists’ Journal 33, no. 2 (March 1986).
429 The quotation from the dwarf mother about rudeness from strangers comes from Ellen Highland Fernandez, The Challenges Facing Dwarf Parents: Preparing for a New Baby (1989).
430 Betty Adelson’s remarks about dwarfs who bear children occur on page 249 of Dwarfism (2005).
431 This passage is based on my interviews and other communications with Cheryl, Clinton, and Clinton Brown Jr. between 2003 and 2010.
432 Clinton Brown III is now president and general manager of the NY Towers basketball team. He has been outspoken about the use of the word midget in the broadcast media. In 2009, he was among those who petitioned the FCC to ban the word midget from radio and TV broadcasting, protesting the use of the word on Apprentice, the Spike TV show Half Pint Brawlers, and Hulk Hogan’s Micro Championship Wrestling . See Scott Ross, “Little people angry with ‘Apprentice,’ call for ‘midget’ ban,” NBC New York, July 6, 2009; Issie Lapowski, “An end to the ’M-word’: Little people want to ban the word ’midget’ on TV,” New York Daily News, July 8, 2009; and David Moy, “Little people grapple with ’M word’ on wrestling show,” AOL News, June 3, 2010.
433 See the previously cited scholarly sources on genetics of dwarfism: Clair A. Francomano, “The genetic basis of dwarfism,” New England Journal of Medicine 332, no. 1 (January 5, 1995); and William Horton, “Recent milestones in achondroplasia research,”American Journal of Medical Genetics 140A (2006).
434 For more information on lethal skeletal dysplasias, double heterozygosity, and prenatal diagnosis, see Anne E. Tretter et al., “Antenatal diagnosis of lethal skeletal dysplasias,” American Journal of Medical Genetic s 75, no. 5 (December 1998); Maureen A. Flynn and Richard M. Pauli, “Double heterozygosity in bone growth disorders,” American Journal of Medical Genetics 121A, no. 3 (2003); and Peter Yeh, “Accuracy of prenatal diagnosis and prediction of lethality for fetal skeletal dysplasias,” Prenatal Diagnosis 31, no. 5 (May 2011).
Far From the Tree Page 111