Terminology

We've had some questions recently about what words are appropriate to use in reference to Madeline's condition.  Here's what we've found from books and online sources:

In the U.S., "dwarf" and "little person" are considered appropriate terms for a person with a form of dwarfism.  Also acceptable are the phrases "person of short stature," "short-statured individual" and "person of restricted growth" (but my oh my that's a lot of syllables for normal conversation).  And the plural of "dwarf" is "dwarfs," not "dwarves."  I'll be sticking with "dwarf" or "little person" for the time being.

Many people would find these statements to be okay:

"My daughter has dwarfism." - refers to her condition, not labeling her as a person; this is a statement I use.

"My daughter is a dwarf." - acceptable, but again, a label.

"My daughter is a little person." - another label, and I'm not sure the public at large would know what it means.

I've tried saying, "My daughter has achondroplasia" and not only is that a mouthful, the vast majority of people have no idea what I'm talking about.

Technically, the terms "midget" and "dwarf" are sort of synonyms in modern times (I won't go into the differences) but it's recommended to stay away from the term "midget" which can be seen as derogatory.  Unfortunately, activities such as "midget wrestling" and "midget tossing" exist, which really doesn't help make the m-word any better.  I'm to the point where I cringe when I hear it because I understand it as an offensive term now, although it had no effect on me pre-Maddy.  I just didn't know anything about the differences between all the terms.

When talking about people who do NOT have dwarfism, it's more acceptable to say "average height" than "normal."  Also, within the little people community there is some shorthand for certain terms, and "achondroplasia" can be abbreviated to simply "achon."  So, I can say that I have one average-height child and one achon child.

I should say that, like other words used to label an entire group of people, all of them are offensive or unacceptable to some people somewhere.  But it's politically correct now to use "dwarf," "little person" or "LP."  And there are some little people who would rather not be labeled with ANY terms.  We are just starting to learn about these things, and I'm sure at some point I'll look back at things I said on this blog and smack my head over my own ignorance.  But for now, we're just doing the best we can.  

Bottom line:  "dwarf" and "little people" = good.  Although in reference to Madeline you can feel free to use the terms we use most, like "sweet baby girl," "precious angel," "snuggle bunny" and "sugar toes."