A case in support of short

A short person by any other name is still short.

I’m not sure if political correctness is based on anatomy, human ergonomics, genetics or observation: but as a result, I don’t know what to call short people—without offending them or being insensitive to their lack of height.

According to a British corporation, Short Stuff, a short person is defined as anyone under 5’2”.

To be politically correct, are short people considered “little people” or “vertically-challenged?” I’d rather give each person a nod or say hello than call someone shorter than me the wrong thing.

Case in Point

I am sarcastic by design; my mother was my model growing up so I feel comfortable teasing her. Depending on the day we can go back and forth for hours, laughing and joking with each other.

Well, when it comes to teasing, her height seems to be the only exception. I once called my mother ‘short,’ she is 5’1” mind you, and she shot me a look that made me cringe.

Compared to me (being 5’7”) she doesn’t have as many inches to cover when touching her toes. That’s not harsh, is it?

Later that day she asked me to take an item off the top shelf. Remembering our earlier conversation, I sheepishly grabbed it out of the kitchen cabinet and set it on the counter, where she could reach it. I then asked the dumbest question, “Mom why do you insist on using shelves higher than what you can reach? If I’m not here what are you going to do?”

“Get a stool and get it myself,” she said giving me that look again. “I may be short but I’m still your mother.” I knew she was upset, maybe even a bit annoyed because she used the word “mother” instead of “mom.”

It’s funny how our banter about her height is sometimes playful and other times serious. Where is the line, where is the boundary?

My mom is a do-it-yourselfer, which means if the maintenance man doesn’t return her call, she’s getting out her tool belt, pliers or paint brush to get the job done.

The only problem is when she starts a project, the family starts it too. If she can’t reach something after climbing the top rung of the ladder, my sister or I will be called to the rescue.

If she needs to drive the truck to pick up something at her favorite hardware store my mom needs the stepstool to climb onto the seat. Once when the stool wasn’t where it was supposed to be, I saw her open the driver-side door, grab onto the steering wheel and pull herself up.

Seeing this makes me feel bad for all the innocent jesting about her height.

Case in Point

One of my uncles, only 4’10”, has what is called, “short man’s syndrome.” Ever heard of it? It’s when a man lacks average stature and overcompensates with aggressiveness, rambunctiousness and an air about him that seems to say, “I may be shorter than you but I’m better.”

My uncle will confront you if you breathe on him wrong. He said people treat him differently because he’s short and can’t do as much. I asked him if it might be his attitude, not his stature. He said “No, short people have to prove themselves because they are not the norm.” According to him, “short people have to stoop down to their level to fit in.” Is that possible?

Angelita Caudillo, a journalism major, is only 4’11” and said even her coworkers pick on her height. “They call me chaparrita, which in Spanish means short. It used to bother me but I’ve gotten used to it,” Caudillo said.

After surfing the Internet to see what I could find concerning the subject, I was surprised to find more than 315,000,000 Web sites with everything from a short person’s support group to short music.

I came across an interesting article by Devin Love-Andrews, 5’1”, who raised a question I had never heard before, “Why is height discrimination being ignored?” Honestly, it may not be that people are ignoring it, but that many people didn’t even know there was such a thing.

Visiting a Web site called Bladam, I read a blog called “Short People Got No Reason to Live,” in response to singer Randy Newman’s controversial song by the same name.

The creator of the blog said he had many concerns and frustrations about heightism: discrimination against those of less height.

According to this blogger, all this light joking has frayed the nerves of the short community.

“Heightism is a frustrating and insidious covert form of discrimination. And a form for which, I fear, there are no solutions,” the blogger said. “It's one of those things that we short people just have to live with and adapt to.”

Sorry for the playful joking, I didn’t realize it was that serious. To the short people on campus and beyond, stay strong. It’s the tall people around you that continue to come up short.

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