From midget to little person and beyond

Who knows how old I was when I first heard the story about Eddie Gaedel, a little person hired by Bill Veeck, the owner of the St. Louis Browns Baseball Team. In 1951, according to what I have read, the Browns were one of the worst teams in the history of baseball.  As a publicity stunt, Veeck signed Gaedel to a contract with the St. Louis Browns. First, Veeck had Gaedel jump out of a birthday cake that celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the American League. Then, Gaedel led off the second game of a double header. He immediately drew four balls from the pitcher, walked to first base, and was replaced with a pinch runner. That was the end of Gaedel's baseball career.

I've heard the story many, many times. At first, and probably for many years during my time, the story focused on Veeck and Gaedel was always referred to as a "midget."  Several years ago, someone from ESPN sent me an email, asking me about appropriate language to identify people with dwarfism. It's possible, the ESPN inquiry was part of a broader shift in language and a broader awareness about dwarfism. Today, an internet search of Eddie Gaedel yields plenty of references to the mword but the term little person is also used a good deal of the time.

Then last week, I can across an article on the ESPN Website about Gaedel's Grand Nephew, who plays professional baseball, Kyle Gaedele, proud relative of Eddie Gaedel, has full sized baseball goals.  I am not an Eddie Gaedel scholar, and have never done a search for stories that show the humanity behind the Bill Veeck gimmick. They probably were out there before this ESPN piece was published.  But for me, and probably thousands of others, Eddie was the vehicle for what is remembered as the biggest gag in baseball history.  I was happy to find the story about Kyle Gaedele, which portrayed Eddie as a beloved family member, much more than he had been before in my mind and probably the mind of millions of others.

M-Word Backlash

Years ago, after former Chicago Bears Defensive Coordinator went to the Carolina Panthers as Head Coach, he referred to Rex Grossman, the Bear's quarterback, as a midget. The alleged comment received a lot of media attention, and the comment was recognized as an insult. I wrote a response to the Chicago Sun-Times, which published the letter. As far as I remember though, and from all that I can find now on the internet, non of the media attention referenced the impact of the comment on the dwarfism community.

This year, another NFL Football Coach used the m-word. Again, it was used in reference to a quarterback. Marvin Lewis is the coach for the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals play the Cleveland Browns today, (December 14). Earlier this week, when asked how the team would prepare for the Browns' quarterback, Lewis said, "You've got to go defend the offense. You don't defend the player, particularly a midget."

At least seven years passed between the time Rivera made his comment, and when Lewis used the m-word. In that time, many efforts have been made to raise awareness about dwarfism and language. Little People of America launched a Dwarfism Awareness Month. More reality programs that feature the lives of everyday dwarfs have been introduced on television. Peter Dinklage has won an Emmy and a Golden Globe.

If the response to Lewis' m-word comment is any indication, that awareness has made a difference. There was immediate reaction to Lewis' use of the m-word. With the internet and with social media, the speed of the response is not a surprise. What is a surprise, at least in my opinion, is the content of the response. Some critics commented about not just the impact that the slur would have on Manziel, the Cleveland Quarterback, and the Browns. They also pointed out the impact the slur would have on the dwarfism community.

Over Twitter, Michael David Smith, the Managing Editor of Pro Football Talk, wrote, "Many people of short stature consider "midget" a slur. Marvin Lewis shouldn't say it. Neither should the rest of us." On the ESPN Radio Show, "Highly Questionable," someone said, "if the public does not perceive the M-word as a slur, it's because they don't know any lps."

Smith didn't stop with his original comment. Soon after he used the m-word, Lewis issued an apology. Primarily, Lewis apologized to Johnny Manziel. Smith didn't think the apology covered everyone. He expected more. In a column titled, "Marvin Lewis' apology is Lacking," Smith wrote, "Lewis failed to mention people of short stature, the people who, by extension, Lewis was really insulting."

Soon enough, Lewis issued a second apology. In that apology, he extended his regret to "all others I have offended." 'All others' is kind of vague, but earlier in his comments, Lewis said that he had studied the Little People of America website. With that in mind, it's easy to infer that Lewis intended to include people with dwarfism in his apology. After the second statement from Lewis, several other outlets mentioned the Little People of America website, including the New York Times.

All in all, a week that started with a high profile football coach using the mword ended up all right for the dwarfism community. The media rallied in support of the community, and that same coach, not to mention one of the most high profile newspapers in the world, mentioned the LPA Website. If I were to give out a game ball, it would go to Michael David Smith. He was out in front of the pack, holding Lewis accountable when the coach made the disparaging remark, and Smith didn't let up until Lewis apologized to people with dwarfism.

To Smith -- Many Thanks.

Lee Corso uses m-word on "College Game Day"

I love many sports, including football.  In particular, I love the Chicago Bears and Wisconsin Badgers.  Typically, I will make sure to carve out time on Saturdays and Sundays in order to watch the Badgers and Bears Games.  Yet, unless the Bears or Badgers win a game, in which case I will watch and read post game analysis, I have never been a fan of listening to people talk about sports.  On Saturday and Sunday mornings, instead of watching pregame shows, I scramble to clean my house and finish my work so that I don’t feel guilty watching three or more hours of sports. 

With this in mind, I have never watched ESPN’s “College Game Day,” a show on Saturday mornings that previews the upcoming day of college football.  But this past weekend, it didn’t take long for me to hear about something that happened on the November 17 episode of “College Game Day.”  Since the show’s inception, the program has featured a man named Lee Corso.  A former football player and coach, Corso was hired by ESPN in 1987.  According to Wikipedia, on the show, Corso plays the role of “comic foil” next to his various co-hosts.  His “catchphrase” is “not so fast, my friend,” which he delivers to disagree with a colleague’s prediction about what team will win a game.  (In what I think is an interesting footnote, he always holds a pencil when he makes the statement.  According to the same Wikipedia post, Corso is the Director of Business Development for a pencil based manufacturing company.) 

This past Saturday, Corso delivered his signature line with a twist.  Responding to a five-year-old football fan who predicted Yale would beat Harvard, Corso said, “not so fast, midget.”  A lot has been said by me, by Little People of America, and by the dwarfism community about the word midget.  When raising awareness about dwarfism, among other outcomes, Little People of America hopes that people will stop using the word midget.  Nevertheless, we recognize that we will not eliminate use of the word.  The question then becomes, how do LPA and the dwarfism community respond when the word is used. 

That question came up after Corso called the five year old a midget.  Soon after the comment was made, someone posted on LPA’s Facebook page, asking what people thought of Corso’s comment.  Someone also sent an email to LPA’s Vice President of Public Relations.  The author of the email made some good points.  He argued that a response was warranted because ESPN is a major mainstream network, and because many people who watch “College Game Day” will be influenced by what they hear. 

Typically, rather than respond to use of the m-word, LPA focuses on proactive outreach.  My philosophy is, it is better to invest energy into opening doors than to fight against people that are closing doors. I think that philosophy applies in the case of Corso.  Corso may or may not know the impact of the m-word within the dwarfism community.  Even if he did know, I don’t think that would have stopped him. (I don’t have anything to base that assumption on except for the fact that later in the telecast Corso strangled a live duck on the air.) After all, Corso plays the role of the comic foil.  His use of the m-word is no different than a comedian using the word for a cheap laugh. 

Corso’s comment did draw laughs, from his co-hosts and from his viewers. But from what I have found online, his viewers know that there is something wrong with what he said.  One writer commented, “I’d hate to be the person at ESPN that is in charge of responding to the hate mail from overly sensitive viewers that object to Lee Corso’s comments, (Lee Corso Calls Cute 5-Year Old A “Midget”).”  Another wrote, “Calling a kid a midget in front of millions of viewers probably wasn't the most "politically correct" thing for Corso to say, (Lee Corso calls kid picker a 'midget').”  My favorite response included this comment, “In protest of Corso’s use of the word “midget,” not to mention the fact that he just screamed at a little kid on television, I will not be posting video of whatever dumb thing he dressed up as today to make his pick of the week, (Lee Corso Calls 5-Year-Old “Midget” on College Gameday).” 

I didn’t like the first two comments.  One suggested that anyone who would have a problem with Corso’s use of the word is overly sensitive.  The other used the term “politically correct,” which in my opinion always diverts attention away from issues of respect, equality and language.  Though I didn’t like the first two comments, both recognized that what Corso said was wrong and inappropriate.  These comments provide evidence that more and more people are aware of issues and language related to dwarfism.  This evidence is motivation for LPA and others to continue to focus on raising awareness within the general public and not to devote time to spend time to people who use the word. 

People out there like Corso, who are just trying to get a laugh, will continue to say offensive, inappropriate things.  If we call them on it too often, we will just get into discussions about political correctness and the first amendment.  But eventually, if LPA and others continue to raise awareness about diversity and differences, people like Corso will lose their audience.  At the very least, the audience will stop laughing.

Who says April is the cruelest month?

First of all, I really appreciate the people who read this blog. From what I know, there are not many of you, but you are loyal. The way I see it, this is kind like a new start up company that hasn't gone public yet. When we go public, the loyalists will be rewarded with the big dividends. Don't expect cash though.

I mention this because my goal is to make at least three entries a month. At that pace, I'll hit the 100th entry in a year or so. That's when we'll really take off! (If this were a text or an email, I would write something like laughing out loud here). The problem is, I write about pretty much the same thing over and over again. And that's language. Language as it relates to disability and dwarfism is one of the focuses of this blog, but nevertheless I wonder if the people who read this would like something new. With this in mind, in May, I will try to expand the subject area a little bit within the context of disability.

But, it's not yet May. I want to end April with another positive entry about language. Last, week, just after I had learned that the New York Times planned to run a column announcing that the word dwarf would replace the m-word in their style guide (thanks NY Times), I got an email from a researcher at ESPN magazine. He was digging up information about Eddie Gaedel, the little person who Bill Veeck, the owner of the St. Louis Browns Baseball Team, inserted into a game as a pinch hitter in 1951. The move was a gimmick to increase attendance for the St. Louis club, which had been doing pretty poorly in the standings and in attendance. Any paper that covered the event in 1951, or basically any story written about the incident since 1951, referred to Gaedel as a midget. This usage doesn't fall into the same category as "Celebrity Apprentice," especially since in the 1950's, from what I understand, the word was acceptable. But the story is often retold these days, and even though there is no harmful intent when a story about Gaedel uses the m-word, it gets a little tiring. In his email, the researcher wanted my opinion about acceptable terminology within the community of people of short stature. I replied to the email, giving the researcher a little bit of the history of language within the dwarfism community and answering his question.

I didn't think much about the email correspondance until tonight. I went onto the ESPN Magazine website and searched under the word midget. There were 101 entries in the past year. That was disconcerting. To be fair though, many of them appeared to be in reference to car racing, and I couldn't find any recent references connected to Gaedel. Then I searched under Gaedel, which I should have done in the first place. The latest an entry was April 22 in a column called "Life of Reilly." Sure enough, there was mention of Eddie Gaedel in the column. The m-word was nowhere to be found. Instead, Reily used the word dwarf to describe him. Maybe some day people of short stature won't need any labels, but until that time, kudos to the researcher at ESPN for using an appropriate label. And, as April draws to a close, good work to The Simpsons, the New York Times and ESPN Magazine, who have helped make a month that started with snow not so bad after all.