Heightism, hierarchies and human rights: how a normalcy of disability infringes on the rights of people with dwarfism

Numerous countries, such as the UK, USA and Australia have adopted various policies and legislation that have aimed to provide an inclusive built environment for disabled people. In the UK, Part M of the Buildings and Regulations Act is a statutory law that focuses on making public buildings accessible for disabled people. Despite this, Part M fails to accommodate a range of disabled people, including people with dwarfism. This chapter explores how Part M is inadequate in providing equal access for people with dwarfism due to a normalcy of disability, which results in a hierarchy of disability and impacts upon their human rights. This normalcy of disability is influenced by a neoliberal agenda which aims to accommodate as few disabled people as possible for economic gains. This chapter suggests that to remove this hierarchy the notion of disability needs to include body sizes that exceed the norm.