‘We are people with all the hopes, dreams, passions and faults of everyone else. Eighty percent of us are born into families with no history of dwarfism’ – Billy Barty.
It often makes me question as to what little knowledge both specialists and doctors had when they uttered the words ‘unfortunately children born with this condition don’t live long outside the womb’ to my parents before I was brought into this world. Did they do their research before the spoke? Obviously not because twenty one years later I’m trying my best to change the attitudes of the people out there and change their perceptions on people with a disability at the fact that they should be treated no different to the other eighty-five percent of the population without a disability. No one should let their disability define them because I’m not letting it define me.
‘The world worries about disability more than the disabled people do’ – Warwick Davis
Like any other twenty one year old, who doesn’t love shopping except for the fact that my shopping experience is a little different. Unfortunately not many clothes designers have created a brand of clothes on the market for people with dwarfism, but I’m fortunate enough to have one of the best dressmakers that ever existed. I obviously shop in the so called ‘ladies’ section in the shops because if I tried to shop in the kids section there would be two problems. Firstly, the children’s trousers wouldn’t go past my knees and the other is that kid’s clothes are designed for kids meaning that they have butterflies, princesses, maybe a few numbers and a lot of pink which in return means I just avoid them altogether. So when I shop, I don’t shop for the ‘perfect’ fit. I shop for a fit that goes past my knees and fits me on the waist. I then bring them to the dressmaker who transforms the clothes into something that you would think would be impossible to do but then again life can’t be that simple, can it? I use the public bathrooms, I can’t reach the door lock, the basins to wash my hands and to get on the toilet is a struggle in itself. I queue at the bank to use their services and the person serving can’t see me underneath the counter; yes I can fit underneath the counter. I can barely use the ATM machines located around towns and villages. Queuing at my favourite food place and unable to use the card machine to pay because it’s not out far enough on the counter and they usually ‘struggle’ to remove it from the holder. I enter the shop to pay for my petrol that I had just filled my car with and wanted to use my card because I had no cash on me, unfortunately I couldn’t reach the chip and pin. She asked me for my pin, yes the girl serving me asked me for my personal identification number. Due to the simple fact of a lower card machine not been available within this shop meant that I had to divulge important information where you are constantly reminded that you don’t give your pin to anyone. What choice did I have? The petrol was already in my car. These are just a few examples of public facilities where barriers are sometimes placed and you learn to deal with them or it’s a matter of having to deal with it.
Believe it or not, we’ve got a month dedicated to us to raise awareness and educate people about dwarfism and that month is October. It gives the opportunity to raise awareness and educate people on what life as a person with dwarfism is like. It also gives the opportunity to show people that just because we’re that little bit shorter than the ‘average’ height person, it doesn’t mean we are less capable of setting goals and challenging ourselves to be the best that we can be. For the minority of society who use derogatory terms to describe us, it gives us to a chance or opportunity to turn their negative attitude into a positive. Just because a person with dwarfism in that bit smaller does not mean that we can’t reach great heights (literally). Dwarfism does not require a cure, we are doctors, teachers, athletes, veterinarian, lawyers and much more, we do not let our disability define who we are or what we can achieve and neither should you.
Author - Hayley Fitzsimons
4th Year Recreation and Sport Management Student - Waterford Institute of Technology