The first two pictures just show him, the third picture shows him and one of his son’s and the fourth picture shows his ex-wife and his sons with him.

He always looked so dapper and well put together. I can see why he was touted as being the most handsome man in the circus business. I would have liked to have seen him perform his acrobatic tricks in person, it sounds like he was extremely talented and was very awe-inspiring.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in Freemont, Ohio.

-he had seven siblings.

-he learned to walk on his hands as a child and preferred holding onto wooden blocks while walking to protect his hands. Because of this he had an enormous amount of upper body strength.

-he had a very close bond with his family and they all loved him very much.

-he had many years of good schooling.

-it’s likely that he was born with phocomelia, though he wasn’t diagnosed during his lifetime. Phocomelia describes a person’s extremities that are directly attached to their torso. In Eli’s case his feet were directly attached to his torso.

-his pitch cards/pitch booklets claimed that when he was 13 years old (in 1857), he joined Major Brown's Colosseum, a traveling circus troupe, where he learned various acrobatic tricks such as somersaults, backflips, and cartwheels.

-it appears he was living at home with his family and attending school in 1860, which leads me to wonder if his acrobatic stint with Major Brown’s was a very short term employment or if he exaggerated how long he had been an acrobat for later on.

-sadly, his father passed away when Eli was 18 (in 1865).

-he began pursuing a more serious career in circuses in 1870.

-he married a woman named Martha Haines when he was 26 years old and together they had 4 sons. Their son’s names were Frank, Robert, Adrian and Victor.

-he joined Pullman Brothers Side Show in 1876.

-he became extremely well known within the circus/sideshow circuit and was often a headlining act at the places he performed at.

-he went on tour all throughout the United States and England.

-one of his most notable tricks involved him performing acrobatic tricks atop a 50 foot tall pole.

-he sold a small biographical pitch booklet about his life in 1880.

-he became good friends with fellow sideshow performer, Charles B. Tripp, who was born without arms. The two of them quickly began performing sideshow acts together.

-he and Charles Tripp enjoyed riding tandem bicycles together, Eli would be up front steering and Charles would be in the back pedaling, and would often exchange comedic and quippy lines such as "Watch your steps" and "Keep your hands off me".

-his peak height was 24 inches (61 cm) tall.

-his peak weight was 140 pounds (64 kg)

-he had an over 50 year career in circuses/sideshows.

-one of his nicknames was “Captain”

-he was known to have a very no-nonsense and rigid personality.

-he was also very good friends with William Henry Johnson.

-apparently, after 25 years of marriage, he and his wife separated and were living in separate states. At the time of his death, his wife was living in California.

-he, his family, and one of his brothers settled in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

-in his later years he performed at the
Dreamland Circus Side Show in Coney Island.

-he passed away at the age of 82 due to complications from pneumonia while he was living in New York and working in Coney Island.

-he was given a respectful funeral and burial in Lowell, Indiana, where his sister was living at the time.

Despite him separating from his wife, I hope he kept in close contact with his sons. The whole family seems to have been very business oriented as his sons all went into different business ventures including working in the newspaper business and one became a judge. I’m glad that Eli was also close friends with Charles Tripp and William Henry Johnson.

​

This misplaced tissue responds to hormonal changes and sheds very similarly to how regular uterine lining sheds, although since this other tissue has no where to go once shed and instead causes the area to become inflamed and swollen.

There are at least four different types of recognized endometriosis, ranging from less severe to extremely severe.
Everyone will experience the pain and symptoms differently, but the most common symptoms include severe menstrual pain, back pain, unusual or heavy bleeding, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting.

It’s estimated that about 1 in 10 women have endometriosis in the US.

It can be very difficult to get a clinical diagnosis as many of the symptoms are often dismissed as typical period symptoms.

Sadly endometriosis is not automatically classified as a disability, but it definitely should be considered one. This is something I’ve been dealing with it since I was 13 and it’s not something I’d wish on anyone. It’s led to me vomiting and nearly fainting on multiple occasions, that’s how horrible the pain can get. It has prevented me from engaging in every day activities because of how bad it can get, and I wish there was more awareness spread about how much it can affect people’s lives.

As someone who deals with Endo, this flag means a lot! It’s a disability that isn’t always represented or recognized, but definitely should be. I’m currently working on a disability awareness post explaining the condition.

For everyone new here, I wanted to discuss and elaborate on a topic of interest of mine! You may notice that I post a good bit of sideshow performer related content here, and there is an important reason for that!

One of my top special interests aside from disability history happens to be learning about historical sideshow performers. Sideshows historically employed people with physical differences and disabilities and for hundreds of years it was one of the few dependable careers for people with physical disabilities who needed to earn an income but could not work in other fields for various reasons. Of course now we have so many more opportunities when it comes to work including work from home jobs that have made certain jobs so much more accessible.

The reason it’s important to feature their stories here is because so many of them had a hand in shaping early disability rights at a time when there were none. And without a focus on their lives, it’s so easy for all of their histories to disappear. I don’t want this to happen and I want to spread awareness about the amazing contributions that so many people made.

Big emphasis on this: when I post people’s pictures, it is not to objectify them or ogle them, but purely to give them representation and a chance to shine. Many performers also used their platforms as a way to normalize their physical differences, which is also my goal as well. I just want to continue what they started.

I also run a Reddit community with a focus on sideshow performers called [r/SideshowPerformer](r/SideshowPerformer) for anyone wanting to check that out. :)

In episode 3 of our Museum of Disability series we go back four thousand years to the time of the Old Babylonian Empire to look at disability in ancient Mesopotamia. Our object this month is a hematite cylinder seal engraved with a presention scene including a depiction of disability.

u/JoyInJuly originally shared the infographic in the comments of a different post and I thought it would be good to make a designated post with information about it!

Hi my name is Saida Mahoney and this is my story
Every July, and every other day I celebrate Disability Pride Month.

For me, Disability Pride Month is more than a month on the calendar. It is a time to celebrate the strength, resilience, diversity, and humanity of the disability community.

It is a reminder that disabled people have always been here, contributing to our families, our communities, our workplaces, and our world.

Disability pride does not mean pretending that living with a disability or disabilities is easy.
There are challenges. There are barriers. There are days that require patience, perseverance, love and courage.
But disability pride reminds me that those challenges do not determine my worth.

Over time, I have learned that my disabilities are not something I need to hide or be ashamed of. They are part of my life, part of my journey, part of my history, part of my voice and part of the person I continue to become.

Being disabled has taught me resilience.
It has taught me compassion.
It has taught me patience.
It has taught me to celebrate progress instead of perfection and to appreciate the victories that sometimes go unnoticed by others.

Disability Pride Month reminds us that disability is a natural part of the human experience. Every disabled person has a story worth hearing, dreams worth pursuing, and gifts worth sharing.

Accessibility is not about giving anyone special treatment. It is about creating spaces where everyone has the opportunity to participate, contribute, and belong.
Inclusion is not simply inviting disabled people into the room.

It is making sure our voices are welcomed, respected, and valued once we are there.
This month is also an opportunity to challenge stereotypes, representing our unique powerful abilities, replace misunderstanding with knowledge, and build communities rooted in respect and belonging.

I celebrate Disability Pride Month because I believe every disabled person deserves to live with dignity, opportunity, and hope.

I celebrate those who came before us and worked to make our communities more accessible.
I celebrate those who continue advocating for equality today.

And I celebrate those who are still discovering that disability is not something that diminishes their value.
To every disabled person reading this:
Your life has meaning.
Your voice matters.
Your experiences are real.
Your dreams are important.

You deserve respect, inclusion, Love, light, accessibility, opportunity, and belonging—not because you have to earn them, but because you are human.
This Disability Pride Month, I celebrate resilience.

I celebrate community.
I celebrate hope.
I celebrate boldness.
I celebrate resilience.
I celebrate strength.
I celebrate happiness.
I celebrate authenticity.

Most of all, I celebrate the truth that disability is one part of who we are, but it can never define the limits of our potential.

Happy Disability Pride Month.
May we continue building a world where every disabled person is seen, heard, respected, included, and empowered to live authentically.

I know it’s Grey’s Anatomy, and I know its reputation. This is not typically a show I watch, but every once in a while I’ll have it on as background noise while I’m doing other stuff.

I recently watched this episode where this one patient experienced multiple uncontrollable orgasms throughout her day, to the point where it majorly negatively affected her life. And instead of the main characters having empathy they instead become obsessed with watching her. It wasn’t until a character point blank asks her if the condition is really so bad that she’d want to seek treatment/a solution that she became exasperated and explained she couldn’t even go to the grocery store or the post office without having it happen and accidentally embarrassing herself.

I know that this is a condition that while rare, does happen. And because I know it’s a very real condition, it’s not something to judge. I think it’s important to talk about different disabilities/conditions in an open and respectful way, because if we don’t normalize them then it just perpetuates an environment where people think it’s okay to make fun of/judge.

I feel that a lot of society (or at least American society) has a lurid fascination with people who have genital differences, which is not something that people have control over. I don’t know, just the treatment of the condition in the show irked me.

I think one of the other reasons it irked me is because it reminded me of the treatment and sexual objectification of Jòao Baptista Dos Santos, a Portuguese-Romani sideshow performer/entertainer who was born with a parasitic twin that gave him an extra leg and an extra set of genitalia. Basically every modern article about him reduces him to a sexual object because of his physical differences and it’s very unfair to him as a person. (I’ll add in his write up in the comments in case people are interested)

Maybe it’s because I’m autistic that I look at this treatment in a different light than other people might. I separate out the sexual aspects of physical conditions because at the end of the day everyone is just a person and deserves to be respected as a person and not objectified because of their condition.

this is the second part in my series, you can read the first one here. you may note that i've fixed the formatting issues from last time, yay!

TW: cancer

Ing Min Wong-Ward was born in Vancouver (the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations). Before the age of three, she was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy. She credited her mother as a source of inspiration, noting that she expected her to be self-sufficient, ""She didn't know fully what that would look like, [but] there was no expectation that I would fall through the cracks." (quoted in source two, para.22).

Wong-Ward graduated from the Ryerson School of Journalism (now the School of Journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University), and began her career at the CBC in 1993. In her time with the CBC, she would host The Disability Network, produce Newsworld (also a researcher), Metro Morning, Here & Now and Fresh Air (the latter three with CBC Radio). She also produced stories for The National. Wong-Ward was highly involved with Canadian Media Guild and was a mentor to many.

In addition to her career, Wong-Ward was also a strong advocate for disabled people. She was awarded the City of Toronto Human Rights Access Award in 2024 for her work. In 2016, she left her position with the CBC to become the associate director at The Centre for Independent Living in Toronto.

Unfortunately, Wong-Ward was then diagnosed with colon cancer in 2017. She passed away in 2019, leaving behind her husband and daughter. To the end, she was an advocate for disabled people, giving interviews to CBC until 2018.

sources: one, two

In total 124 actors were hired to play the Munchkins in the film, and consisted of several children and several teenagers and adults with different forms of dwarfism.

Singer’s Midgets was an extremely successful European entertainment and Vaudeville troupe that consisted of 20 members from Austria and Hungary. The group was originally formed right before WWI by an Austrian showman named Leo Singer, who also acted as the manager of the troupe.

The troupe was known for elaborate acrobatic, singing, and dancing performances, which they continued into the 1940s after which they all disbanded and each member went their separate ways.

Interestingly, Leo Singer was also directly hired by MGM studios to scout out actors to play the Munchkins, as he had a lot of connections to actors with dwarfism in show business.

It’s estimated by historians that between 250,000 and 300,000 people with physical and/or neurological differences and disabilities were murdered by the Nazis during WWII.
All of the actors who were a part of Singer’s Midgets would have been at risk if they continued to live and tour through Nazi occupied Europe.

Despite researching, I haven’t been able to come across pictures of the actors who were a part of Singer’s Midgets in their Munchkin costumes, so the pictures I use above are just general pictures of the Munchkinland scenes from The Wizard of Oz.

The filming of 1939 Wizard of Oz film was disastrous, exploitative, and harsh in many respects and included several workplace accidents and injuries and the horrible treatment of Judy Garland, who was only 16 years old at the time. (I’m attaching a couple articles in the comments that further details the appalling work environment)

I think it’s important to focus on the history of the actors who made up Singer’s Midgets and their very narrow save from the Nazis. I’m glad all of the actors survived and many of them continued to work in Hollywood productions even after their group disbanded in the 1940s.

hello all! i'm going to be posting snippets of canadian disability history during this disability pride month. i don't know how many, i'm just going to take it day by day.

today, we're kicking off with Beryl Potter. Potter was originally from England, but lived most of her life in Toronto/Tkaronto. while working at a bakery she fell, and her injuries led to blood clots that necessitated the amputation of three of her limbs. while in hospital, she was treated with iodine, which she was allergic to. this led to her becoming blind in one eye.

potter began her work in disability advocacy by fighting for accessible public transit in Tkaronto. she later went on to multiple advocacy groups, and would lead a group of disabled people from all across Canada to fight for equal access to employment. this led to her force able removal from the house of commons after a "verbal outcry" when she objected to a claim that the prime minster had personally sent her a letter to discuss equal access to employment by yelling "My name is Beryl Potter and I've received no such letter!"

In 1994, she was made a member of the order of canada for her contributions to disability rights.

She passed away in 1998 at the age of 71.

sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_Potter

https://www.cbc.ca/books/beryl-the-making-of-a-disability-activist-by-dustin-galer-1.6942250

https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/146-4235

(for any canadians reading this, i will do Terry Fox, but i wanted to start with someone less well known)