Everyday life among the vertically challenged?

[Svrtnsse]

I'm taller than average and my current main character is roughly the size of a hobbit.

What's it like being short? I'm sure that if you're shorter than average you're probably quite used to it by now so it may be a tricky question. I'll try and be more specific and put some example questions:
- Do you experience that the world in general is designed/built for people taller than you are?
- Does it happen that you find yourself in situations where you are reminded of your height?
- ...what kind of situations are those?
- What's an advantage of being short that you enjoy regularly?
- What's a disadvantage of being short that you suffer regularly?
- Apart from the height, what about you do you think would have been different if you were taller?
- What correct/incorrect assumptions about being short do you find that taller people make?
- What about being short do you think is most difficult for tall people to comprehend?

This isn't meant to single out or make fun of short people. I'm genuinely interested.

 

[Spider]

The title of this thread made me laugh. I suppose I am kind of short now that I think about it, although I'm not extremely short. Advantages: I can slip through crowds of people more easily or, if there is someone I don't want to be around, I can slip into crowds of people and disappear! I'm also pretty good at sneaking around without getting noticed. As for disadvantages, it's bothersome when I can't reach something.. like if I want to get a bowl from the top shelf of a cupboard, I have to climb onto the counter. (I don't like getting help from others to do these minor things. Although I'm short, I'm perfectly capable of managing myself!)

All in all, life is good.

 

[Lohengrin]

I'm one of those vertically challenged, so I'll try to help haha.

- The world is made for average people, which implies that tall people would have some problems too.
- Yes, last week I was in a pub that had a TV and everybody was watching UFC. Needless to say that with my height I couldn't see almost anything (there was this 2m tall guy in front of me).
- Advantage? I'm not sure, maybe like Spider said it makes easier to sneak around crowds but never happened to me.
- Disadvantages? Imagine trying to wash your face in a washbasin made for taller people. If the basin is wet you have a 100% chance of wetting your shirt.
- I'd have longer legs xD
- People think that because we are shorter they can run us down whenever they wish.
- That being short doesn't mean we are less in anything.

 

[Kit]

Yes, to the climbing on countertops.

Some vehicles don't have the capability to move the seat far enough forward to be able to comfortably reach the pedals. Most furniture is mildly to moderately uncomfortable- feet don't reach the floor in chairs, have to hunch shoulders up to put hands on table or use sinks. If you are doing a lot of this sort of thing- like if your workplace isn't ergonomically friendly to your height, or if you drive a lot while perched on the front edge of the seat- you can end the day with sore shoulders, sore back, etc for compensating.

When I go to any sort of theater or anything like that, I have to take a phone book to place on the seat- otherwise I usually can't see over the head of whomever is in front of me.

It is not uncommon for people to treat you like a child when you're short- either subtly or blatently condescending.

 

[Svrtnsse]

Thank you guys, much appreciated.

Also, yes, tall people have issues too. Mainly it's related to banging your heads on things and occasionally about clothes being too short.

 

[skip.knox]

Everything will depend on your world and what is average height. In the Earth Middle Ages, people generally were shorter than they are today. Doorframes were lower, beds were smaller, benches were lower. Nothing was a standard height (that's a 20thc invention), so there was variation, but the main point here is that the range from "short" to "normal" was narrower than it is today. "Normal" to "tall" otoh was probably greater. That is, if the average height for a male was, say, 5' (I'm guessing), then those 6' tall Norse warriors would have been awfully imposing. But a 4'8" male would have been pretty average, a little on the small size. More to the point, I'm not sure he'd have any adjustments to make. You might have to put him clear down to 3' or so in order to make him extraordinary.

Today, a 6' tall man would hardly be noticed, but 4'8" would get second looks. And definitely would have issues with a world made for a larger size.

 

[Svrtnsse]

The premise is that in most cities, humans and anfylk live together. The humans are the taller ones while the anfylk are significantly shorter. The humans also outnumber the anfylk and they are the ones with the most political power. As such, must public spaces will be designed primarily for humans and anfylk adapted locations will be a lot less common.

 

[SeverinR]

I always found my height/weight to be an advantage. (5'4 & 110lbs)
I could climb on unsteady stacks in military supply with less chance of tipping it, then anyone else.

I am older now, so weight did grow...some.

In the world, humanoids build their towns and homes to their size, if the normal person is 4', a 6 ft tall person will be at a disadvantage. If built for average 5'7", the short person(4'5 or less) or giant(6'10) will be at a disadvantage. If the average person is 7 ft tall(ogre/giants) those under 5ft will seriously notice difficulties, the average human will be at a disadvantage.

For modern day problems of short people, this show might help:
Little People, Big World Episodes - Little People, Big World Season 6 2013 Episode Guides - Watch Little People, Big World Episodes from TLC | TVGuide.com
A mixed family with normal kids and parents and at least one child with dwarfism.

The parents make modifications to house and vehicles so they can use them in a normal sized world, But in a society of dwarfs, the original building would be made for them.

 

[Penpilot]

I'm 5'5, not tall, not necessarily short either. Personally, I really don't notice my height too often. The world is as it has always been, and it's just normal for some things to be out of my reach for me, so I don't give it a second though. IMHO people structure their home to fit their needs, so regardless if it was designed for a taller person, the shorter person will find a way to make their environment functional. For myself, when I need to reach those high shelves, I always have a step ladder in the corner. I put all the things I only need occasionally on the high shelves and the stuff I used the most within arm's reach like most people.

Having said that if these anfylk are a significant part of the population, one possible outcome is they will make the public environments that aren't designed for their needs functional. For example if a drinking fountain is too high, sooner or later someone will get frustrated and just drag something like a rock, or if they're ambitious, build a step on one side, so the shorties can drink too. Of course this depends on if this type of thing is acceptable in a human dominated city. But I can see how the anfylk will make the environment fit their needs.

If you want to get a feel of what it's like to be short, just get on your knees (discretely in public places ) and look around and think about how your daily life changes and how it doesn't.

 

[Svrtnsse]

Here's an excerpt from a story where this topic comes up:

He sighed and hoisted himself up on the oversized chair. He could have adjusted the seat to the lowest setting. It would have enabled him to sit down properly but he wouldn’t have been able to work comfortably like that. He’d tried but the ache in his back and arms simply wasn’t worth it. Compared to that the indignity of having to jump to get into the chair was a minor inconvenience.

It used to be fine. He’d had an anfylk-sized chair and an anfylk-sized desk and he’d been comfortable at work. Now his feet just barely reached the floor and even then he was considered tall for a fylkin. Many of his kin had taken to using little boxes or footrests in order to aid them in getting into their seats. It was undignified but apparently it was for a good cause.
It had happened a couple of years ago. Some politician had decided that the smaller desks and chairs of anfylk served to increase segregation between anfylk and humans. Apparently it accentuated the anfylks’ “diminutive stature” and was a source of discrimination between the two species. To alleviate this it had been decided that all public workplaces in the country would use the same size desks and chairs for anfylk as well as for humans.

At first the idea had been to use average sized office furniture, but somewhere in the maze of politics and bureaucracy it had been decided that standard human sized desks and chairs would be used. This was fine for the humans, and perhaps it helped them think less about the difference in size of humans and anfylk; perhaps they felt they discriminated less against the anfylk now.
Enar didn’t know and he wasn’t going to bring it up. It was bad enough that he had to be reminded he was a small person in a world of big people every time he wanted to stand up or sit down. It wasn’t as if it was harder to tell a fylkin's desk from a human’s now anyway. Anfylk stored a lot more paper in the trays on their desks, it being such a pain to reach the bottom drawer.

 

[Weaver]

Today, a 6' tall man would hardly be noticed, but 4'8" would get second looks. And definitely would have issues with a world made for a larger size.

A few trivial facts: Currently, the worldwide average height for an adult male human is 5'8" (173 cm) and the average woman is 5'2". In the US, it's 5'10" for men and 5'3" for women... And these vary according to what part of the country you're in. A man who stands 6 feet tall may not be noticed in, say, Cincinnati (there are more tall people in the Midwest and other parts of the US settled by people of Germanic/Scandinavian ancestry), but he'll stand out more in Lubbock and definitely in Miami.

4'8" would make me wonder if the man had ever considered a career in acting, 'cause they're going to need someone to play Miles Vorkosigan sometime, right? (Okay, so Miles is actually 4'6" -- but Hollywood lies all the time in the other direction, saying actors are taller than they really are.) Sorry. Off-topic -- sci-fi story instead of fantasy. Whatever.


(At 6'5", I'm probably not supposed to have an opinion about how the world treats/views short people. Nevertheless, I do observe others' behavior on the rare occasions when I'm not being a total hermit.)

 

[Sia]

Disclaimer: I'm just a shrimp. Not restricted growth or anything. Just short. That said:


- Do you experience that the world in general is designed/built for people taller than you are?

Well, I'm not all that short. But you know I'm a woman and the 'default person' in our culture is male so even if I was average, that wouldn't really help all that much.


- Does it happen that you find yourself in situations where you are reminded of your height?

Yup.

- ...what kind of situations are those?

Any time I'm talking to my cousins or my brother who are quite tall for a start . My cousins especially. I'm craning and they're half-bending. Also, I bought a Jodi Picoult book a little while ago on a busy day in Waterstones. Handle with Care. I made a fool of myself by jumping up and down trying unsuccessfully to reach the book. I would have had to either queue twice (once to find a tall employee to get it down for me and once to pay) or forget about it if a taller lady hadn't taken pity on me and helped by getting the book down for me.


- What's an advantage of being short that you enjoy regularly?

You know those 'mind your head' signs that people hit their heads on? I never have to worry about them. Ever.

- What's a disadvantage of being short that you suffer regularly?

The accursed top shelf! Or you know, just generally, not being able to reach stuff you want.


- Apart from the height, what about you do you think would have been different if you were taller?

I'd have to watch out more for mind-your-head signs, I guess. I'd probably be able to reach more things. I think I'd drink alcohol more too.


- What correct/incorrect assumptions about being short do you find that taller people make?

I'm short and I was baby-faced for a long time. Not so much now but I do remember buying my friend her first drink on her 18th birthday. So she was just 18, I was just shy of 20. I got asked for ID, she didn't.

- What about being short do you think is most difficult for tall people to comprehend?

Hmm, I'm honestly the absolute worst person to ask about this. Have some other free information instead: My mom who is also short... well, you know 3/4s? They're full-length on her.

Also, this might help.

 

[Trick]

I'm not short but my wife is. I'm 6'2" and she's 5'. Neither of us is exceptional in our heights but complications arise in our home because 14" is a big difference. For instance, we bought a California King Mattress, so my feet wouldn't hang off of the bed, and I built a captains bed frame for it. Silly me, I didn't think about how tall I was making it and the combined heights of mattress and bed made it very difficult for her to get into it. When she was pregnant she actually needed a two-step step stool to get into bed. Needless to say, she wasn't too happy about that.

When it comes to cars, if she drives one and then I get in without thinking, I bash my head or jam my knees under the steering wheel. She actually bought her last car because the seat adjusted higher and farther forward than the others she'd looked at; that's something I know I've never had to think about.

When I put things away on the wrong shelves she thinks their missing because she can't see the upper shelves, let alone reach them without a step stool.

She's a trooper though and doesn't have a problem with her height at all. It's just part of who she is.

EDIT: My wife does run into issues with people thinking that she is not very strong, because she's short. Nothing could be further from the truth. I'd say that she is stronger than the average woman of average height.

On a funnier note I have friends that are brothers and come from a family of somewhat shorter people. I was at their house and saw a locked box with a narrow slot attached to a wall. They told me it was a money box that everyone put change and small bills in to save up for family outings but the key was lost so they had put lots in and never taken any out. Two years the key was lost. I looked to my left and on the top of the fridge was a dusty key. I grabbed it, brushed it off and said, "Is this it?"

Not one family member was tall enough to see the top of the fridge and so the key had remained 'lost' for two years.

 

[Kit]

I'm short and I was baby-faced for a long time. Not so much now but I do remember buying my friend her first drink on her 18th birthday. So she was just 18, I was just shy of 20. I got asked for ID, she didn't.

.

Hell, I'm 41 and people still treat me like a child. People sometimes don't take me seriously at work, and clerks follow me around stores to make sure I don't steal stuff. People call me "kiddo".

 

[Nihal]

Oh yeah, there is this little issue with looking younger than you're actually are. While it's amusing the most part of the time, sometimes it can get annoying to never be taken seriously, even by people who know how old you are.

I don't know if someone mentioned it here, but being short (and a woman) makes it a bit troubling to find certain items. I can't seem to find a good office chair for me, they're all too long now and I either use the back rest or keep my legs bended in a 90º angle like a normal person.

Same thing for clothing articles... I'm small and skinny, usually I have to make the hem of pants, even dresses... However, I can turn those trendy long blouses intro dresses, heh.

 

[Kit]

Same thing for clothing articles... I'm small and skinny, usually I have to make the hem of pants, even dresses... However, I can turn those trendy long blouses intro dresses, heh.

OMG, **NOTHING** ever fits me. I'm an extreme hourglass shape, so I can't even shop in the kids' section. Also, I hate to sew. All of my pants are hemmed up with duct tape. :redface:

 

[SeverinR]

In the military I had a slight...moderate case of Billy the kid/Nepolian syndrome.
I always looked to prove I was as good as taller people. (One instance, I volunteered to carry the radio(then was big and heavy) and the m60 with ammo on a hike.) and did without complaint, until the NCO in charge dressed down every other person in the squad for allowing me to do it.

I will never forget a Training instructor stopping a group (on graduation day) I was with, getting in my face and asked me:
"How did a short person like you graduate from USAF basic training?"
"I don't know. Sir."
"At ease, next time anyone asks you that, you look em in the eye and tell them, 'I'm better then any of those A--holes!' "
I should add the Training instructor was only at most an inch taller then me.

 

[Kit]

"At ease, next time anyone asks you that, you look em in the eye and tell them, 'I'm better then any of those A--holes!' "

Love that!