Monday, July 6, 2009

Little People of America asks FCC to get "the M-word" off broadcast TV

From Newsday. In the picture, members of Little People of America show their pride during 4th annual Disability Pride Parade in Chicago.

Little People of America, at its annual conference in Brooklyn this week, has called for the Federal Communications Commission to ban the use of the word "midget" on broadcast TV.

"The word 'midget' objectifies you," said Clinton Brown, 27, of Hicksville, who co-chaired this year's conference at the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott in Downtown Brooklyn. "Growing up as a little person, because you're different, you experience the ups and downs of some cruelties and prejudices. How many times have people I don't know come up to me and wanted to pick me up?"

Brown said the group filed an official complaint with the FCC.

In April, Little People of America protested an episode of NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice," in which contestants created a detergent ad called "Jesse James and the Midgets." The contestants, including Joan Rivers, suggested bathing little people in the detergent and hanging them to dry.

In an open letter to NBC, the group called the episode "demeaning."

Calls to the FCC and "Celebrity Apprentice" host Donald Trump were not immediately answered Sunday. NBC Universal representatives didn't immediately respond to e-mail messages, and there was no answer at its Los Angeles office.

Michael Petruzzelli, president of the group's Long Island chapter, said physical accommodations for little people have come a long way, but "we haven't made those social changes to take those offensive words out of our vocabulary."

Petruzzelli, 45, of Melville, who attended the convention, noted that accommodations for little people - at gas pumps, ATMs and drinking fountains, for instance - are ensured through the Americans with Disabilities Act, and that the Transportation Security Administration now allows little people to pack adaptive devices, such as car pedal extenders, in their carry-on luggage.

Petruzzelli, whose chapter includes about 400 Long Islanders, said that different groups of people have chosen words to describe themselves, and fought for the eradication of offensive language.

"It's not acceptable to call people the N-word, just as it's not acceptable to call people the M-word," he said. "The chosen term now is L.P., or little person."