# Ask the dwarf (or little person, or almost any other term you want to use) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 28, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dwarf-or-little-person-or-almost-any-other-term-you-want-to-use/431501 "2007-12-28T18:57:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2007, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dwarf-or-little-person-or-almost-any-other-term-you-want-to-use/431501/81 "2007-12-30T13:31:48Z")
Does your hotel have those portable step-up things that Mr Rolof sells (invented?). You mentioned modifying your home to fit your height. Have you had any experience doing this yet? I ask because in Little People Big World, they ran into hurdles with building codes demanding certain heights for things. Not sure how that one turned out for them. But anyway, have you had any issues like that–where some rule or law actually inhibited you from making things easier in your every day life? ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dwarf-or-little-person-or-almost-any-other-term-you-want-to-use/431501/82 "2007-12-30T15:45:13Z")
Hey, if you _know_ me you can joke around me, just don’t walk up and start picking on me without even saying, “Oh, hi, you’re **whiterabbit** ] aren’t you?” No, we don’t have those kits. I’ve debated mentioning them to management, because they look really nice, but they are also quite expensive. There have been times a stool would have been very useful in a hotel room, and a reacher. And the reacher would be useful for almost anybody using a wheelchair as well. This is a ski resort, so we don’t get many disabled people, but it does happen. The property would only really need one on hand; it’s a thought. I know who I could run the idea by. I do think those kits are an excellent idea. I’ve never done any home modifications because I’ve always been living in either somebody else’s house or apartments where I couldn’t touch anything. I think it’s up to the individual person to decided to take on the LP label/identity/whatever. There’s medical definitions, but then there’s what the individual person thinks about themselves. I have no idea whether Emanuel Lewis thinks of himself as one or not, but I’ve never heard that he _does_. 4’9", 4’10"…not much difference. I still think that bar is set a bit too high, though there’s the qualifier of a medical reason for the height, not just being from a family of ittybitty people. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2007, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dwarf-or-little-person-or-almost-any-other-term-you-want-to-use/431501/83 "2007-12-31T02:31:31Z")
It’s been mentioned by you and your mother that you needed extra time to get to class and catch your school bus. Do you have mobility issues, or is it because of your height and shorter legs you just can’t move as fast? Thanks for the thread, by the way! ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2007, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dwarf-or-little-person-or-almost-any-other-term-you-want-to-use/431501/84 "2007-12-31T02:57:34Z")
[QUOTE=whiterabbit] Hmm. In school I think the biggest accomodation for me was excusing me from PE classes, until I moved to California my junior year of high school and they had “adaptive PE,” though my senior year I just took swimming instead. I had an elevator pass at that high school as well, since it had two floors. [/QUOTE] Hey **whiterabbit**! You probably remember that we went to the same High School but I’m around ten years older than you. They installed that elevator during my senior year to accommodate a couple of kids with cerebral palsy. I’m glad that you got to use it. The classroom buildings in that school were long and narrow and four of the five of them were in a long line. It would take a while, even with long legs, to get from one end to the other. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2007, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dwarf-or-little-person-or-almost-any-other-term-you-want-to-use/431501/85 "2007-12-31T02:57:52Z")
I do have some mobility issues; being on my feet too long causes me quite a bit of back pain, as well as some developing knee issues and a longstanding odd nerve issue in my left leg. I can tough it out if I have to, but I’d rather not. And you’re welcome. It seemed like of all the “Ask the” threads this one hadn’t been done, and sadly it’s more necessary than I’d like. So after years here, I finally gave in and did it. ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2007, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dwarf-or-little-person-or-almost-any-other-term-you-want-to-use/431501/86 "2007-12-31T06:47:57Z")
Some other Doper with a better memory will probably be able to pin down the quote, but in one of Spider Robinson’s books, one of his characters uses the phrase “As a person of inexcessive stature” when addressing another character. I thought at the time it was a clever way to accurately and inoffensively describe the situation. Would your assessment of his choice of language be the same? Thanks for a great thread, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dwarf-or-little-person-or-almost-any-other-term-you-want-to-use/431501/87 "2008-01-02T03:43:47Z")
Giving it a one-time bump ---
**Author:** ![Ms.Pumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@Ms.Pumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms.Pumpkin)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dwarf-or-little-person-or-almost-any-other-term-you-want-to-use/431501/88 "2008-01-02T05:49:10Z")
[QUOTE=Hometownboy] Some other Doper with a better memory will probably be able to pin down the quote, but in one of Spider Robinson’s books, one of his characters uses the phrase “As a person of inexcessive stature” when addressing another character. I thought at the time it was a clever way to accurately and inoffensively describe the situation. Would your assessment of his choice of language be the same? Thanks for a great thread, as well. [/QUOTE] Speaking as an averagely short shorty(5’1"), if I ever heard anyone use that phrase I’d roll my eyes. It’s awkward and… I dunno, weird(IMHO). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dwarf-or-little-person-or-almost-any-other-term-you-want-to-use/431501.md?page=4)