Category: Dignity

enough to pit Little People of America (LPA) against Dave the Dwarf even though the named defendants in the lawsuit were the Florida governor and Division of Alcoholic, Beverages and Tobacco. The station titillated its audience by negatively portraying Dave as a piece of luggage to be tossed and LPA as a militant group interfering with his right to work.

Although the lawsuit was dismissed in February 2002, there was no hearing or ruling on the constitutionality of the law. Rather, the judge found he had no jurisdiction to hear the case because the agency rules to enforce the dwarf-tossing law had been repealed. As a result, the radio station planned a dwarf-tossing event. LPA in Florida resisted exploitive activity reminiscent of circus sideshows and put pressure on the state to publish enforcement rules before the event.

Meanwhile, John Stossel’s “Give Me a Break” segment on ABC’s 20/20 program aired on March 8, 2002. My husband and I naively believed that Stossel would fairly present both sides of the dwarf-tossing debate. He did not. After watching the 20/20 segment, I was so incensed that I sat up until the early hours of the morning writing a response called, “John Stossel Compromises Dwarfs in Name of Freedom.”

People encouraged us to keep fighting for the right thing and stand up for our beliefs. Barbara Walters—an acclaimed broadcast journalist—won the praise of many viewers when she nailed Stossel’s libertarian view by comparing the dwarf-tossing law to society’s ban on suicide, prostitution, and drug dealing.

Emboldened by the Stossel report and the judge’s dismissal of the lawsuit, the Tampa radio station planned a dwarf-tossing event for April 5, 2002. The Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco responded to my complaint about the planned event on LPA’s behalf and warned the bar that dwarf tossing violated Florida law.

The bravado ended when the radio station cancelled the dwarf-tossing contest. But the DJ was livid and threatened to sue the state of Florida again. Thankfully, his plan was stymied when the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that became effective on August 21, 2002. The penalties for violating the dwarf-tossing law included license revocation or suspension, a civil fine not to exceed $1,000, or both.

Image credit: Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

This post is a condensed version of Chapter 12, Give Me A Break in “ALWAYS AN ADVOCATE: Champions of Change for People with Dwarfism and Disabilities” by Angela Muir Van Etten, https://angelamuirvanetten.com/books/

The parallels between dwarf bullfighting and dwarf tossing are striking. In both cases dwarfs were seen as objects of ridicule. Dwarfs in Spain dressed as firefighters or clowns to chase bulls at public spectacles designed to be humorous. Dwarfs in Australia, America, and the United Kingdom window-dressed with a useless padded helmet and were tossed like a human frisbee to the roar of a jeering crowd.

In March 1985, I was talking about dwarf tossing when I wrote: “Little people are tired of being ridiculed and the butt of people’s jokes, and object to being treated as a plaything of society.” In April 2023, Firstpost Explainers expressed a similar sentiment about dwarf bullfighting. “People with dwarfism were subjected to mockery in public squares in our country, passing down the idea that it is OK to laugh at difference, to so many girls and boys who go with adults to see these shameful performances.”

According to news reports, Spain’s Royal Board on Disabilities pushed for the ban on dwarf bullfighting. Jesús Martín Blanco, a person with dwarfism and director general of the board, denounced the fact that children were the target audience of people with dwarfism presented as buffoons. “If the children are going to laugh at a person in a bullring, they will surely laugh at me when they come out.”

Support for the ban also came from the Alpe Achondroplasia Foundation representing those with the most common type of dwarfism. The parent of a 29-year-old dwarf with Achondroplasia is reported as trying to get these shows banned since her son was born. She tells of people pointing out her son on the street and erroneously describing him as the bullfighter fireman. The legal advisor to the foundation warned against building an unhealthy society by teaching children that it’s a laugh to make fun of those who are different.

As with dwarf tossing, vehement opposition to the bullfighting ban came from the dwarfs involved in the spectacles. Tossees and bullfighters both argued against removing their livelihood. Prior to the legislative vote, dwarf bullfighters staged a protest in front of parliament in Madrid, Spain pleading “Everyone should be able to work at what they want.”

In both cases, the onus was put on the legislature to decide if the participants right to work in freak-show style entertainment outweighed the rights of nonparticipants to be viewed as viable candidates in respectable occupations without being branded by the indelible and degrading images of bullfighting and dwarf tossing. Thankfully, legislatures in Spain, Florida, and New York came down on the side of human decency and outlawed these morally bankrupt practices.

Image by Car Loss Voniya from Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/trimmers-torero-bullfighters-sales-2314774/

You may also want to read:

• “Spain has banned ‘dwarf bullfighting:’ What is this decades-long practice?” (includes Reuters image of two costumed dwarfs in comic bullfighting event.) Firstpost Explainers. April 28, 2023. https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/spain-has-banned-dwarf-bullfighting-what-is-this-decades-long-practice-12520582.html

• Angela Muir Van Etten. “ALWAYS AN ADVOCATE: Champions of Change for People with Dwarfism and Disabilities,” Part II, The Rise and Fall of Dwarf Tossing. September 2021. https://angelamuirvanetten.com/always-an-advocate/

• “Florida Bans Dwarf Tossing in Bars.” Angela Muir Van Etten blog post. June 27, 2022. https://angelamuirvanetten.com/florida-bans-dwarf-tossing-in-bars/.

• “Dwarf Tossing Throwback.” Angela Muir Van Etten blog post. March 8, 2021. https://angelamuirvanetten.com/dwarf-tossing-throwback/.

The Florida dwarf-tossing contests had thrived on negative publicity for a whole year. Any moves to shut down the contests failed because the promoters took the show on the road before local municipalities could prohibit the practice. Consequently, I agreed that a statewide law to make the offensive activity unlawful was needed.

Florida advocates succeeded in getting state lawmakers in both the house and senate to introduce a bill to ban dwarf tossing in licensed establishments. Although I had a minimal role in getting the Florida bill passed, I helped gain public support by joining Florida advocates as a guest on the Sally Jessy Raphael Show. One of the points I made was that dwarf tossing affects all people with dwarfism because it endorses society’s decision to strip dwarfs of their personhood and subject them to unequal treatment as freak show entertainment and objects of ridicule.

Dr. Cheryl Reid, a member of the LPA Medical Advisory Board, addressed the danger of dwarf tossing. She used an anatomical model to show that the spinal cord of dwarfs with achondroplasia—the most common type of dwarfism—has less room to move through the spinal column and is more likely to be kinked or bent possibly causing sudden paralysis or death. Support for her opinion came from quotes Sally read from other dwarfism doctors at nationally renowned medical centers.

Further medical evidence showed that there was no way to make dwarf tossing safe. Dr. Aldo F. Berti, Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery at the University of Miami School of Medicine, wrote, “I do not believe any safety equipment used by the volunteer dwarves in their chosen risky business serves as significant protection since it does not give any stability to their weak musculoskeletal complexion.”

Contrary to the predictions of Florida dwarf-tossing promoters, the Florida bill became law on June 28, 1989!

According to Nancy Mayeux, the mother of two girls with dwarfism, the legislature found that dwarf tossing

1. is morally wrong;
2. creates discrimination against dwarfs;
3. is a potential financial burden to the State when inevitable injury occurs to the uninsurable dwarf who is tossed;
4. infringes on the rights of, and endangers, other dwarfs in the community threatened by tossing against their will; and
5. is an embarrassment to the State.

This post is excerpted from Part II, The Rise and Fall of Dwarf Tossing, in “ALWAYS AN ADVOCATE: Champions of Change for People with Dwarfism and Disabilities” available on Amazon in print, e-book, and audio formats. Read more at https://angelamuirvanetten.com/always-an-advocate/.

Amazon book review excerpts re dwarf tossing:

“Perhaps the most inspiring section is the campaign run by Little People of America to ban ‘dwarf tossing’ in bars in Florida and New York. Angela was very much involved in this campaign, her legal background proving a major asset in getting this supposed ‘sport’ banned.” Geoff Ryan

“For me, the most thought provoking and interesting part two, the rise and fall of dwarf tossing. Angela documents her tireless efforts to ban the sport in numerous US states [and] provides an easy read legal debate regarding the so-called form of entertainment. It is interesting to see how Angela, and others, had to find persuasive arguments to ban something that should never exist in the first place.” Dr. Erin Pritchard

“It is hard to believe that Dwarf Tossing was considered a sport. As an orthopedic surgeon, the life changing damage to the body is unimaginable and possibly permanent.” James Farmer, M.D. “Angela and others battled the despicable and potentially deadly “sport” of dwarf tossing.” Eileen Healy

Although the New York Senate bill passed without a hitch, the Assembly bill almost died in both the Commerce and Codes committees. The Commerce Committee questioned the bill’s constitutionality because of its interference with the right of a dwarf tossee to work; and the Codes Committee found the definition of dwarfism too vague.

As the Coordinator of the New York advocacy group against dwarf tossing, carving out time to respond to Committee concerns was difficult. I was working full time and studying for the New York bar exam. But God gave me the strength to do both, along with the prayer support of the women in my Bible study group. And with God’s help I eked out a five-page legal-opinion letter on the constitutionality of the bill and recruited two members of LPA’s Medical Advisory Board—Dr. Cheryl Reid and Dr. Charles I. Scott, Jr.—to help Assembly committee staff draft text that precisely defined the people with dwarfism protected by the proposed law.

After Committee questions were resolved, the bill passed in the Assembly on June 28, 1990 and the Senate on June 30, 1990. The governor’s signature was all that remained. Surely, he would agree that dwarf tossing and dwarf bowling were offensive by any standard of human decency.

July 24, 1990, was a great day—the first of two days of the bar exam. Although I was more than ready to pour out all I had learned onto paper, clearly it wasn’t the exam that made the day great. No, it was wonderful because of a call I received from an AP reporter who told me that Governor Mario Cuomo had signed the New York bill to ban dwarf tossing in licensed establishments! I praised God as I went into day two of the exam. And I’m sure Governor Cuomo appreciated a reporter gracing him with a Humanitarian of the Year Award for hanging tough against some strong criticism for signing the bill into law.

Relief and joy overflowed on September 20 and November 8, 1990, when I opened the mail reporting that I had passed both the New York state bar and ethics exams. God kept all His promises to me:

Not one word of all the good words which the LORD your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one word of them has failed.  
-- Joshua 23:14, New American Standard Bible

This post is a condensed portion of chapter 11, Biting the Legislative Dust, in “ALWAYS AN ADVOCATE: Champions of Change for People with Dwarfism and Disabilities” now available on Amazon in the US and UK.

The debacle was grounded in Chicago with a public relations campaign and with legislative bans in Florida and New York in 1989 and 1990, respectively.

So when Representative Workman sought to repeal the Florida law during Dwarfism Awareness Month in 2011, he was deluged with resistance. LPA demanded that the bill be withdrawn and bombarded him with:

1. protest letters from little people, family and friends, and disability organizations;
2. negative media attention; and 
3. 4,834 signatures on a change.org petition that each triggered a ping when landing in his email inbox.

Prior to his bill, Workman had never met anyone with dwarfism! But after four weeks of relentless advocacy, he became acutely aware of all that is wrong with dwarf tossing:

• It generates harmful stereotypes that often marginalize even the most highly qualified and educated people with dwarfism as they try to enter the mainstream employment market. LPA President, Gary Arnold, and American Association of People with Disabilities President, Mark Perriello
• It objectifies the dwarf community making the individual who is tossed like a shot put or a javelin thrown in a track and field event. LPA President, Gary Arnold
• In a day and age when society is confronting bullying, it is a shame that this bill takes us backwards. It enables bullying. LPA Vice President of Public Relations, Leah Smith
• We feel the pain all the way down deep in our bones when we have to fight for our basic dignity as human beings. LPA Advocacy Director, Joe Stramondo
• Civil liberties are not put at risk by upholding the ban, but are supported by it.Reality TV Star, Bill Klein
• A career in dwarf tossing is likely to secure the tossee a check from the Social Security Administration or a plot in the cemetery. LPA Advocate, Angela Van Etten
• It creates an environment so toxic that little people fear ‘copycat’ behavior and being thrown against their will. LPA Advocate, Angela Van Etten

When two past LPA Presidents—Robert and Angela Van Etten—confronted Workman in his office, he acknowledged that his bill set back little people decades with ‘freak show’ imagery and a return to the 1930s era of circus show entertainment. Although he refused to withdraw the bill, he agreed not to promote it. And the bill died in committee on March 9, 2012.

This post is a condensed version of chapter 13, A Perennial Weed, in “ALWAYS AN ADVOCATE: Champions of Change for People with Dwarfism and Disabilities” coming in Fall 2121.

To read more of my writings, please visit my website at https://angelamuirvanetten.com.

This is a perfect choice for Read A Book Day because many Amazon customers found it hard to put the book down and some read it straight through in one sitting. It’s a must read as attested by Cherie Blair, Bono, Michael Bloomberg, Scott Harrison, Sheryl Sandberg, Clay Scroggins, and many others.

Michele L. Sullivan is the author of this Harper Collins Leadership book published in February 2020. As the first female President of the Caterpillar Foundation, Michele describes how looking up to people from the vantage of four feet was not just a physical phenomenon, but a leadership practice of elevating the people around her. Michele skillfully intertwines her childhood lessons of embracing her physical differences as a person with metatropic dysplasia, a rare type of dwarfism, with adult lessons of growing on the inside. She credits her parents for teaching her that she was more than her size and that life was not all about her. LPA (Little People of America) helped Michele with self-acceptance and interdependence.

Michele attributes her gift of empathy and compassion shared with foundation beneficiaries, partners and staff around the world to her family and the people she met in LPA and during five summers of orthopedic surgeries and therapy. She introduces the book with her most potent life lesson—learning to expand her view of others saying, “When we learn how to elevate the people around us to discover and champion what’s noble and beautiful and powerful in them we uncover the path of impact in one another’s lives.”

Indeed, Michele successfully passed along this lesson to readers of her book. I agree with the many customers who describe the book as inspirational, but not for the reason you might think. Michele’s story does not inspire people to admire her courage for all that she has endured, but—through laughter, tears, and example—inspires people to change their perspective and to see people for who they are on the inside.

The book is packed full of life changing advice and wisdom about the value in every person, including ourselves. Looking Up is not just the name of a book, but a principle to follow that changes how we see and impact people.

To read more of Angela’s writings, subscribe to her weekly blog at https://angelamuirvanetten.com and coming soon is her own book—PASS ME YOUR SHOES: A Couple with Dwarfism Navigates Life’s Detours with Love and Faith—due to release on October 1st.