My name is Ginny Foos. I am honored to be
here and it actually brings back, some really great memories. When
I was ten hmm, I was on a television show
outside of WGBH in Boston which is were I grew up.
>> Okay.
>> And I was one of five finalists, that had disabilities and
we filmed for two years and it was a real coming of age experience
for me because we were asked to sit on very hot sets. talking about, how do you
feel about being different? How do you feel
about being teased? And not only was I saving
in psychological costs, I didn't have to see
a shrink, I was actually being paid for talking
about my feelings. And I really bonded with
the other four individuals, and it was really neat.
>> How old were you when you,
sort of, noticed, yourself, that you were different from
other people, and maybe when your parents also noticed this?
>> That's a really good question. my parents were given the diagnosis
when I was 18 months old and they wonder to this day
whether or not it was a delayed diagnosis that no one had
the heart to break it to them. now this was pre-DNA testing.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> This was all based on x-rays and
femur length. Femur is really what they go for in
measuring the femur length. and there we were sitting at
Boston, one of the top medical communities in the country
and the gentleman that gave my parents the diagnosis was
[UNKNOWN],
who was sort the Dr. Spock, not the Sci-Fi Dr. Spock but sort of the,
the paediatric voice of America in the 70s. And so I love to tell people that I
was diagnosed by that man myself, so they knew when I was 18 months old. I
think many little people like myself do not
come to their own realization until they're in school.
>> Mm-hm.
>> Because that's when the teasing really starts.
>> Sure.
>> And the accessibility if you will, especially back then.
>> Mm-hm.
>> You know we're talking about the 70s there wasn't any Americans with
Disability Act. So that's when I was having to struggle to, to access
what my fellow students were accessing. So, I think the word has finally
gotten out what the correct terminology is, but just in case let me educate
you on that. The, when, when Little People of America was first formed in 1957,
the name was actually Midgets of America it was primarily a, a venue for enter,
entertainers. and they kind of made light of their union, for lack of a better
word, well then slowly, educated, serious people started
joining the group and one of the first
tasks I had was to get rid of the word midget. Now, what's wrong with the word
midget? for me, and many others, it conjures up the image of, Vaudeville
when they were called midget performers and
they would go around, much like a travelling
circus. And they would get on stage, and
you would see a...a little person like myself,
with a cigar hanging out of their mouth, and a diaper on.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> And making total fools of themselves. So when
I hear the word midget, that's what I conjure
up in my mind, as, as do many in
our organization so I think the word is finally dying.
>> Uh-huh.
>> occasionally it will be used in
hockey leagues it's still used up in Canada,
signifying the younger kids, I think. And, and I,
I think the little people group up there has been
really working on that. so, the terminology that I'm
comfortable with long winded answer is I'm comfortable with little
person and I'm comfortable with dwarf because that's what
I was raised with. Now that's not to say that
my children, and they're okay with that, too but maybe
my grandchildren will have come up with a new term.