The Challenges of Awareness Months

Barbara Brotman published a column in the Chicago Tribune on October 6 titled, "Why some women with breast cancer dread October."  From professional football players wearing pink cleats, to billboards with pink ribbons, October is dominated by marketing around Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  With the marketing come stories about women who have battled through and survived cancer, and individuals pitching for more support of research in order to find a cure for breast cancer. In her column, Brotman wrote about women with metastatic breast cancer -- "cancer that has spread and is incurable."  For many of these individuals, the message Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a message of triumph and overcoming, doesn't resonate.  Brotman quoted a woman with metastatic cancer in her piece.  The woman said, "I'm happy, of course, for people who are doing well and have finished treatment, but I don't feel like I'm a part of that."

Though breast cancer awareness is by far the most well-known cause, other campaigns use October as a month to raise awareness.  Also, similar to women with incurable cancer, other pockets of people wince during October when the communities they are a part of trumpet awareness.  This includes Dwarfism Awareness Month. Dwarfism Awareness Month is much different than Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  When the ubiquitous pink throughout October represent the search for a cure, the green bracelets of Dwarfism Awareness Month have nothing to do with a cure.  Dwarfism Awareness is all about sending a message that people with dwarfism have lives just like every body else.  As such, people of short stature should not be treated as curiousities or the subject of study, but should be given the space and opportunity to live life like everybody else.

Little People of America launched Dwarfism Awareness Month in 2009. I served as Vice President of Public Relations for LPA at the time.  Soon after LPA kicked off Dwarfism Awareness Month for the first time, I received an email from a woman who wrote that Billy Barty, the founder of LPA, would turn over in his grave at the thought of Dwarfism Awareness Month.  Last year, I saw a Facebook post from a woman with dwarfism, who intimated that with October approaching, it was time to crawl under a rock and hide for a month.  I don't know what either of the people were thinking, but I assume they thought that people with dwarfism already receive a lot of attention, often unasked for attention, why dedicate an entire month to drawing more attention to ourselves?

This year, before the calendar hit October 10, I read more posts on Facebook from people frustrated with Dwarfism Awareness Month.  They seemed to agree in theory with the intent behind the campaign, but felt that too many people used the campaign to send the wrong message. They were concerned that messages were shared that framed people with dwarfism as cute and heroic, and that embellished the cliche, "they may be small, but they have hearts as big as anyone in the room." Though well intended these messages reinforce the gap between people with dwarfism and the rest of the community, and fail to convey that most people with dwarfism just want to live regular lives.  After all, no one with a jumbo size heart, literal or figurative, can lead a regular life.

I agree that some messages sent during Dwarfism Awareness Month might send the wrong message. But LPA, and the dwarfism community, must continue promoting the campaign.   We must continue to show the broader community that people with dwarfism are proud of who we are as people with disabilities, and people of short stature, and to raise awareness about the barriers to opportunity and equality we face so that people in the broader community can be a part of the effort to confront those barriers.

Radio City style evolution

I was Louie the Elf in the Chicago production of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular in 1997 and 1998.  Before a show in 1997, a few of the other elves and I were sitting in our dressing room as some of the dancers from the cast made their way to the stage. At most, the little people cast in the show were in three scenes.  A few of the little people were in just one scene, "Santa's Workshop."  Hence, the little people, myself included, spent a lot of time just sitting around waiting for our scenes.  That's what we were doing that day in 1997 when the dancers filed past our room.  One of them, looking in at us, said something like, "Don't forget to smile."  In a way, the comment was disparaging and disdainful.  While in order to be cast for the show, the dancers and Rockettes needed to be skilled performers, the little people didn't need much skill.  We just needed to be able to move around, and to smile.  That's not to say some of the little people in Radio City shows aren't talented.  Some are very talented.  Some have moved on to act in mainstream movies and theater.  But not much skill was needed to play Louie the Elf, or any of the other elves.  When the dancer made the comment, it was as if he resented us for having it relatively easy on the Radio City set.  If the dancer did have an issue with the elves, he wasn't the only one.  Others have disliked the role because they believe it objectified little people.  Considering we were cast simply because we were little people, there probably is some truth to that belief.

For many years, Little People of America had a working relationship with Radio City.  Radio City would recruit elves at the National Conference.  In 2009, because of concerns noted above (around objectification), the organizers of the national Little People of America Conference didn't invite Radio City back.  After the 2009 conference, Little People of America as an organization passed a resolution that would allow Radio City to return to the National Conference only if employment recruiters from at least three other industries (non entertainment industries) also participated in the conference.  To this point, that has not happened. 

Radio City still performs in Chicago.  For the past two months, once a week while I shop for groceries at the Jewel Food Store, I hear advertisements for the show blasted over the intercom system between songs.  Every time I hear the advertisement, I think of my two seasons with Radio City.  Unlike Peter Dinklage and his triumphs in show business, I made no constructive contribution to awareness around little people while I performed as Louie the Elf, though I did have a very good time. But if I were looking for that same good time today, I wouldn't be able to find it.  A few weeks ago, I found a review of the Radio City show in the Chicago Tribune.  To my surprise, the article indicated that elves are no longer part of the show (for whatever it's worth -- neither are live animals).  I am sure there is no connection between the fact that little people are no longer a part of the Chicago show, and that Little People of America hasn't hosted auditions since 2008.  After all, I am almost positive that the Radio City show in New York still casts elves.  And I am sure Radio City has resources besides LPA Conferences to recruit little people.  Nevertheless, Radio City must have made a conscious decision to no longer include little people in the Chicago show, and perhaps other shows.  For whatever reason the decision was made, I can't help but feel everyone involved, or not involved, is a bit better off with the revised Chicago show.  At least when it comes to the Rockettes, the critic for the Tribune seemed to think so, writing But, "in general, they are more dignified in the 2012 edition of this show than at any of the other 10 times or so I've seen them out there kicking."