The Ontario Basketball Association will drop the term, “midget” from its sport teams when referring to an age group.
This started when a parent approached the league in Guelph and asked the division name be changed as not to promote a negative stereotype of dwarfism.
Their child has dwarfism and wants sports to be more inclusive including a change to the category name.
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The league immediately recognized the parents’ concerns and sent out notice the name would be dropped and replaced with major-minor for next season.
It appears the only reason the name was still being used was because it had been in the past.
I can understand the parents’ request for a change. It was nice the league understood and had empathy for them.
However, you know this will start a debate, raising the question if this is inclusion, or political correctness run amock.
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The father said the sport community’s interest and willingness to change brought tears to his eyes.
“Little by little, this change, these changes, will help,” he said.
My question is, if we don’t feel comfortable using the term “midget,” how can we feel comfortable using the term “little”?
Scott Thompson is the host of The Scott Thompson Show on Global News Radio 900 CHML.