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What health-care reform means to our family
In my latest for the Guardian, I write about what health-care reform means to our family — and, specifically, to our daughter, who will not have to worry being excluded from insurance because of her...
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Big news about “Little People”
I am very excited to announce that my hometown of Middleborough has adopted my book on dwarfism, “Little People,” as its high-school summer-reading book. Students and teachers at Middleborough High...
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You just can’t keep a bad word down
For those of us in the dwarfism community, it sometimes seems that the outside world is mainly interested in two things: how people with dwarfism are depicted in popular culture and the continued...
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More progress on the “M”-word
Robert Bertsche, a prominent First Amendment lawyer in Boston, passes along the latest news from the AP Stylebook Online (yes, I’m too cheap to subscribe): dwarf The preferred term for people with a...
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How tech gave “Little People” a second life
I’ve got an essay in the new issue of Nieman Reports on how technology enabled me to revive “Little People,” my 2003 memoir on raising a daughter with dwarfism — online at first, and then later as a...
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Why I’m voting against physician-assisted suicide
Dorothy Wertz I have a simple reason for voting against Question 2, the “Death with Dignity” referendum, which would, if passed, legalize physician-assisted suicide in Massachusetts. People in the...
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Talking about ‘Little People’ in Bridgewater on Oct. 3
Charles Stratton (a.k.a. Tom Thumb) and his wife, Lavinia Warren If you’re in Southeastern Massachusetts, I hope you’ll consider dropping by the Bridgewater Public Library on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 11...
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The M-word, the C-word (no, not that C-word), and The Boston Globe
Update. From Ellen Clegg, the ever-responsive editor of The Boston Globe’s opinion pages: .@dankennedy_nu Apologies that this was not caught. Alerting our style committee. https://t.co/3hvxEC1X9e —...
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From the archives: How the Affordable Care Act will help people with...
President Obama signs the Affordable Care Act. Photo is in the public domain. Now that congressional Republicans are shamefully dismantling the Affordable Care Act, I thought I would reprise this 2010...
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The latest low: The bully-in-chief appoints a judge who supports dwarf-tossing
Candidate Trump mocks a disabled reporter in 2016. Previously published at WGBHNews.org. President Trump, whose multifarious assaults on basic decency include mocking a disabled reporter in front of a...
View ArticleDisability and difference
I’ve got an essay (PDF) in the current issue of ArchitectureBoston on the uneasy confluence of dwarfism, disability and difference. Why ArchitectureBoston? Because the editor, Elizabeth Padjen, asked...
View ArticleThe vagaries of search
Yes, I’m looking for help from the brain trust again. A year ago I published a free, online edition of my book on dwarfism, “Little People.” Unfortunately, I’ve done it in a way that renders it nearly...
View Article“Little People” is back online
My 2003 book on dwarfism, “Little People,” is back online, this time with its own domain. Thanks to Media Nation readers for finding me a free hosting service. I also took your advice by adding some...
View ArticleA little reality
In my latest for the Guardian, I take a close-up look at a story in the Washington Post Magazine about a teenage girl with dwarfism who underwent dangerous, painful surgery in order to become taller....
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The M-word makes an ugly appearance
It’s hard to believe, after all these years, that the word “midget” would pop up in a front-page story in today’s New York Times. David Segal writes: After the Depression, Congress formed what became...
View ArticleThe M-word revisited
New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt acknowledges that the word “midget” is offensive, and writes that the Times will no longer use it to describe people with dwarfism. Here’s my earlier item.
View ArticleTargeting the difference gene
A major theme of my 2003 book on dwarfism, “Little People,” was what would happen in the not-too-distant future when inexpensive tests would be developed to detect the 100 or so most common genetic...
View ArticleMore on the difference gene
Last week I wrote about a new, cheap test that will tell prospective parents whether their children are at risk of having one of 100 or so different genetic conditions, including two forms of dwarfism....
View ArticleThe R-word and the M-word (and the F-word!)
Lauren Beckham Falcone has a good column in today’s Boston Herald, criticizing White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel for using the phrase “fucking retarded.” Falcone, who has a daughter with Down...
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A few thoughts on China’s dwarfism theme park
Billy Barty and Midgets of America gather in Reno, Nev., in 1957. There’s a fascinating story in today’s New York Times about a theme park in China that stars people with dwarfism. Sharon LaFraniere...
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