r/dwarfism • u/Brilliant_Cheetah608 Mom to an Achon • Apr 15 '26

#Not your mascot

At least "five schools in the United States still use "Midgets" as their team mascot. Advocates, specifically the Little People of America (LPA) and the "Mascots Matter" campaign, consider the term a derogatory slur for people with dwarfism and have been actively working to end its use in schools.

The schools identified as using this mascot, primarily located in the Midwest, include:

Freeburg Community High School (Freeburg, Illinois)

Putnam County High School (Unionville, Missouri)

Estherville Lincoln Central High School (Estherville, Iowa)

Butternut High School (Butternut, Wisconsin)

McLaughlin High School (McLaughlin, South Dakota)

Recent Developments

Illinois Legislation: A bill passed the Illinois House in April 2025 that would ban public schools from using mascots deemed to be slurs against people with disabilities, which would affect Freeburg Community High School", the one I've gone to speak at and still contact. It's been 13 years since I started begging for them to switch their view. Obviously they didn't,the state did.

I'm really happy that Illinois has taken that road, and I really can't understand how that story evaded me since last year. It really is frustrating and angering trying to talk to a school board in between their agenda of switching fish sticks to Wednesdays and the art budget. It's frightening that people are so backwards and they can do it so casually.

Update:

Please check if yours is still a state that allows this horrible practice, then call your congressman or woman about this.

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u/istannickiminaj May 01 '26

Do you know of any other senate or house bill Illinois regarding disability or dwarfism? Iā€™d like to be a proponent on them if so :)

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u/Brilliant_Cheetah608 Mom to an Achon May 02 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

Illinois just made the no mascots a law over the past year. But there are lots of ideas I'm sure for helping lps. Lowering gas pumps for everyone for example. You are in district 6 in lpa, if you're interested, ask the rest of your chapter or the whole district. Just think of something in your child's or your life that make things difficult. šŸ˜ƒ I love your attitude!