Dwarfism

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OK, I know I am posting this at SP, in Whatnots, no less. But, seriously, I am curious, is calling someone a dwarf politically correct? Are there any other terms out there that are more acceptable? Or is that it?

 

I don't know. Do they hail from Silverymoon or Shaar? Have beards? Wear metal armor all day? Drink heaps of beer? Speak with a Scottish-like accent and carry axes or hammers around?

If not, no idea.

I usually call em Lil' Fellas and they don't seem to mind.

 

I'd say 'little people'.

Though it would depend upon the region.

 

I dont think it matters all that much. It is just like deaf and hearing impaired. All rather silly. The prefered label for short people is short people or as Jaguar said little people.

 

Yes but, to them it does matter. For example, you mentioned deaf and hearing impaired. From my experience, people who are deaf do not like the label "hearing impaired". That is why I was wondering do dwarves prefer to be called something else?

 

Harlan Ellison writes a lot of stories involving evil midgets, and received a nasty letter from a self-described "little person" who took him to task for using the politically incorrect terms "midget" or "dwarf" for people with that congenital deformity. Ellison wrote back, "Dear sir, I am 5 foot 2 inches. I am a little person. You, sir, are a midget."

Thought that was funny in a totally non-PC way.

 

I guess they wouldn't like to be called 'midget' would they?

 

Not unless the sign says 'Free for midgets'.

Really, I think it depends on the person.

 

If I was one of those guys I would be honored by being called a dwarf. I would also grow a beard, drink ale, speak with a "dwarven" accent and carrying around an axe and a big shield, and I would also kill people with pointy ears. Seriously.

 

Well, all I know is that from what I've seen/heard in various forms of the media, 'dwarf' and 'midget' are definitely out, 'short person' is deemed still too un-PC and 'little person' is in. Personally though, I just call em dwarves. But then I've never been threatened by Gary Coleman or Emmanuel Lewis yet.

 

Here in my town, our morning radio show on the rock station has a little person on it. He also lets people know that he is a dwarf, and that not everyone who is small actually is a dwarf. To acctually have dwarfism a certain set of conditions must exist with proportionality. If they truly were a dwarf then I don't think they would mind the label, but if they were just very short they could be offended. I believe the only way to be sure you don't offend them is to refer to them as little people. But I take it back, best way not to offend someone is to not label them.