Attitudes do change

i’vE taught for many years and have seen children with a range of physical and mental afflictions sensitively and successfully assimilated into mainstream schools.

Most children don’t want to be defined by just one aspect of their being, via a derogatory label.

Had the theatre show in leicester been titled snow White and the seven spastics, rose red and the seven Epileptics or Princess aurora and the seven Mental Defectives, you can be sure those with movement problems, those afflicted by seizures and those with limited intelligence would be offended and upset.

those people at the theatre in a position to do so would have stepped in to prevent it.

in the past, it was commonplace to refer to people of restricted height as dwarves. it was also usual to refer to certain people in fairgrounds and circuses as freaks.

Warwick Davis says he finds it patronising that people took offence at the seven Dwarves on his behalf. But having starred in films and shows, actively capitalising on his 3 ft 9 in height, he has been unusually fortunate in obtaining lucrative employment. in the past, people of restricted height were often denied any chance of employment.

those supposedly ‘self-righteous, self- serving censors’, as richard littlejohn calls them, are taking offence not on behalf of the fortunate minority benefiting from their status, but on behalf of those aspiring to be more than dwarf-tossing fodder.

society has moved on. attitudes are changing, and the views and feelings of people of restricted height, as with most other disabilities, are now well known and respected. Mrs ANNE COPEMAN, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.