To Table of Contents
I had wonderful friends , who I still value to this day , but secondary school was hard . It was hard to focus on my education when it felt like there was so much focus on what I looked like on the outside . Sometimes it felt like I had to work harder than everyone else to prove myself . I ' m not sure who I was trying to prove myself to , but that ' s the feeling that being on the receiving end of bullying can give you sometimes - that sometimes just being yourself , isn ' t enough - but this isn ' t the case !
College and University then were big steps for me , but university especially was a time in which I felt i could really reinvent myself . I always had doubts of whether university was for me , because everyone around me who I saw achieving their life goals were all twice my height . I never saw people with dwarfism going to university . But becoming part of the organisation
Little people UK shone a light for me that : we can achieve the same life milestones as everyone else ; I saw people with my condition go on to become doctors , teachers , lawyers , something which I hadn ' t been exposed to before , and it did give me hope , and the motivation to then move away from the negative aspects of my previous education settings and go out and chase the dreams of what i really wanted to do , and that was youth work .
Changes in public perceptions about dwarfism
Dwarfism , I do feel , has become more accepted over the years - compared to my teenage years , yes as a whole I am much happier within myself and do feel part of the wider community , but a lot of that comes down to my own self-growth . As a society , I believe we still have work to be done . Personally , and whilst I know I am biased , I don ' t see why someone being a different height to another person , should be looked at to any other extreme than someone who has a different hair colour , eye colour , shoe size etc . The only thing that seperates myself from those around me , is I am about 2ft smaller . The rest comes from people ' s perceptions and attitudes - that ' s the real barrier , that dwarfism , along with many disabilities still are seen as something to be feared , and it comes down to a lack of education . People fear the unknown , and dwarfism is still that . Dwarfism is still not something which is seen on the same level as wheelchair users , or visual impairments . Even though 1 in 25,000 people are born with dwarfism - and to average height families , so truthfully , any one of us could have a child , or know someone who is affected , yet it ' s still seen as something that is so distanced from what society deems as ' normal '.
Self-confidence
Self-confidence is exactly what it says , and has to start from within . From someone who knows first hand , you can surround yourself with the best people , the most loving support - but if you don ' t accept yourself , then truthfully you ' re not going to feel accepted in where you are . The best advice I can give is to embrace it . Embrace you . The good , the bad , the ugly . That ' s what I strive to do , and I don ' t always get that balance right , but 90 % of the time , I am a positive advocate for dwarfism , because I know and have understood now that dwarfism has made me who I am . Everything I have in my life , right down to my friendship groups , my job , my dance team , in some way , my dwarfism has led me to that , because dwarfism has led me to the person I am .
I don ' t think I would have such a big passion for helping other people , and young people especially had I not experienced some of the challenges I did in my own