Open for interpretation

Here I am with Andrew Solomon, author of Far From the Tree

Last weekend, at the Disability Pride Post Parade Celebration, as I was hanging out in the shade under a tent in Daley Plaza, a woman asked me, "What happened with Andrew Solomon?"  Solomon is the author of Far From the Tree, a book that multiple different disability and marginalized communities. In the book, Solomon identifies what he calls Horizontal Communities.  A horizontal community is a group that a person is born into, but no other member of the family is part of the community.  For example, I was born with dwarfism.  Since no other member of my family is a dwarf, we don't share a vertical or generational community connection.  To connect with other people in the community, I have to move outside of my family tree, or I have to move horizontally.  Solomon's book includes a chapter on dwarfism.  He interviews multiple people of short stature and their family members, some of whom I know.  In the chapter, dwarfs and their family members share struggles, but within the struggles that result from orthopedic issues and stigma related to difference, there is a strong sense of dwarf community that generates pride and empowerment.  Solomon gave the keynote address at the Awards Banquet at Little People of America's National Conference. 

At the parade celebration, a negative vibe bubbled through the woman's question about Solomon.  I didn't know what she meant by the question, but I had a sense she believed something bad happened regarding Solomon.   When I asked her to explain, she mentioned a few Facebook Posts.  Someone who had been in the audience during Solomon's address at LPA posted several comments during his speech. In one of the posts, she joked that the speech was so depressing she wanted to slit her wrists.  Another post compared listening Solomon's speech to watching Hotel Rwanda because both were depressing. 

After the woman at the parade explained the question, I remembered hearing about the posts on the night of the awards banquet. I didn't think much of the posts at the time, but was concerned to learn that the posts impacted people who had not been at the conference, and I worried that the posts might impact might impact many more people negatively. Such a vibe might prevent people from reading Solomon's book.

When I think deeply about it, I can understand how a person might be overwhelmed with the negative when reading Far From the Tree and listening to Solomon.  The book indeed deals with negative issues.  Not only does it address the many physical issues that people with dwarfism are forced to confront, it covers how many doctors respond when they diagnose dwarfism and how expectant parents sometimes are repelled by that diagnosis.  It's the focus on the medical and on the negative that I believe must inspire some disability groups to integrate the search for a cure into their missions and objectives.  Little People of America is not about research, and is not about cure.  With this in mind, Solomon's message might be interpreted that way. 

In my opinion, Solomon's true message is about the identity that emerges within individuals as result of confronting physical and social challenges.  It is that identity that strongly connects people with dwarfism, even if they are different on so many other levels.  It is that identity that brings people back to Little People of America National Conferences year after year.  It is that identity that inspires LPA embrace dwarf pride over dwarfism research.  That identity, far from negative, is full of power.  But what do I know.  I always thrived on depressing movies. I'd much sooner watch Ordinary People than Rudy. 

Milestones

Around New Year's Day of every year, my wife and I reflect on the highlights from the previous 12 months. For 2012, while she and I had many individual accomplishments, and cherished moments as a couple, two items on my list of highlights had no direct connection to me.  The first was Peter Dinklage winning a Golden Globe for his work on "Game of Thrones."  About 30 years ago, Linda Hunt, also a dwarf, won an Academy Award for her role in The Year of Living Dangerously, but Dinklage's award resonated deeper with me, probably because I am an adult now, and because awareness of dwarfism is rising to a crescendo.  Dinklage's award seemed to add even more legitimacy to the dwarfism community's efforts to demand that we be treated as equal partners, not excess baggage to be pulled out for some comedic relief.   Dinklage's award also took the community another tremendous step away from the historical bias of dwarfs being relegated in popular culture to the role of punch line. 

The second highlight was the publication of Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon.  In the book, Solomon immerses himself into a number of what he calls "horizontal communities."  Dwarfism is one of these communities.  I had heard about the book before it was published.  But I hadn't been aware of the author's previous work, and as a result didn't know of all the anticipation around the publication of Far From the Tree in the literary community and the general community.  The magnitude of the book, and the impact that the book would have on the general population, struck me when a review appeared in The New Yorker.  Similar to Dinklage's award, the popularity of Far From the Tree, and the critical attention given to the book, has helped give legitimacy to the dwarfism community's efforts to be recognized as a community and to be valued for our contributions to society as a community and as individuals.  The contributions we want to be recognized for have little to do with our dwarfism and much more to do with our individual talents.  Peter Dinklage was recognized not for his dwarfism, but for his acting ability.  The people Solomon highlights in the chapter on dwarfism are memorable not for their stature, but for their character.

I've read two and half chapters from Far From the Tree.  Obviously, I didn't save the dwarfism chapter for last.  I read it second.  The book is long, seven hundred pages.  I hope to finish it before the Little People of America National Conference, at which Solomon will be a guest speaker. Even if I don't finish the book, I have several take aways from the dwarfism chapter that I won't forget.  My favorite is a quote from Linda Hunt, the Academy Award Winning Actress from The Year of Living Dangerously.  On page 126, Solomon quotes Hunt as saying, "It (dwarfism) is you.  But you aren't it, and that's an important distinction."

A line such as the one by Hunt is a line that can be interpreted many ways. Perhaps that is the beauty of the line.  For me, the line means, "Yes indeed, I am a person of short stature.  I am proud to be a person of short stature, and I cherish the dwarfism community that I've come to be a part of.  But dwarfism doesn't define me.  I do not cry because I am dwarf.  I do not laugh because I am a dwarf.  I do fail and I do not excel because of my dwarfism.  Dwarfism is just one thread of the fabric that makes up who I am today."  Some people still fail to see the tapestry of the lives of dwarfs.  But with people like Hunt, Dinklage and Solomon, full exposure is only a matter of time.