10-25 -- International Dwarfism Day

The last post on this blog focused on Little People of Uganda, a support group for people with dwarfism in the East African Country where it appears clear that dwarfs face incredibly difficult changes, including death, sterilization, and imprisonment simply because of dwarfism.  Many other countries joined Uganda as International Attendees at the 2013 Little People of America Conference.  One country was Little People of Mexico.  Like Little People Uganda, the group from Mexico also presented at the LPA Board of Directors Meeting and at the General Assembly during the National Conference in Washington, D.C.  The presentations could not have been more different.  Annet of Little People Uganda delivered a matter of fact, business-like presentation, deliberately walking the audience through a series of slides about the atrocities that face people with dwarfism in Uganda, and the need for a support group to protect people with dwarfism. Containing her own emotion, Annet let the facts speak for themselves. On the other hand, Little People of Mexico led a presentation that had elements similar to a pep rally. The group leader, Jose, spoke about the organization of little people of Mexico then presented about a campaign to recognize October 25 as International Dwarfism Day.  At the end of his talk at the General Assembly, Jose urged on the crowd in the chant "10-25! 10-25! 10-25!."  The audience at the General Assembly chimed in, cheering as if at a sporting event. 

Little People of America and Little People Mexico

Though the Mexico and Uganda presentations were different, the goals of each group, and of Little People of America, are similar.  Each group, and all Little People groups around the world, need to invest efforts into raising awareness about dwarfism.  Doing so, all of us will work to increase opportunities in the mainstream for people with dwarfism and we will help reduce stigma against people with dwarfism. Little People Mexico's Campaign to identify an International Dwarfism awareness day is a great idea.  Not only will the campaign help raise awareness, it creates a vehicle for groups around the world to rally behind a similar goal and work together.  The group from Mexico picked 10-25 to honor Billy Barty. Barty, the founder of Little People of America, was born on October 25th. 

As president of Little People of America, I look forward to partnering with Little People Mexico on the International Dwarfism Awareness Day Campaign.  The campaign will help LPA build on our Dwarfism Awareness Month efforts, and it will help members here and abroad rally behind a common cause. 

International Alliances

Every year Little People of America hosts a national conference.  But attendance goes far beyond the borders of the United States.  At the 2013 Conference in Washington D.C., which wrapped up just a few days ago, there were people in attendance from at least 18 different countries, and from every continent except for Antarctica.  There was a lot of anticipation around the international delegations. 

In my case, I was particularly excited about the visitors from Uganda. Annet Nakyeyune is the founder of Little People of Uganda.    Little People of Uganda (LPU) started in 2007.  Since then, the founders have built a membership of more than 1,000.  Within the past few years, LPU started to correspond with Little People of America in the United States.  Part of that correspondence included the sharing organizational newsletters.  A few of the stories from the LPU Newsletter point out the differences between life in Uganda for a person with dwarfism compared to life in the United States for a person with dwarfism.  Most dwarfs who live in the United States can share many anecdotes that highlight discrimination and stigma that people of short stature encounter.  Sometimes the stories involve employment discrimination -- dwarfs have shared stories about being refused an interview because of their short stature; there are other stories of dwarfs who were denied reasonable accommodations.  Other stories involve the social stigma of difference that appears when dwarfs elicit stares, gawks, or photographs simply when they are walking down the street.  This type of marginalization can take a heavy toll on someone's life, from impacting their ability to make a living to impacting their self-esteem.  Though little people in the United States face challenges, I find it hard to complain compared to the challenges I know of now through learning about Little People of Uganda.  One of the LPU Newsletters included a story about a young man with dwarfism who had his baby taken away from him and murdered for no other reason than dwarfism.

With the story of the young man who lost his baby firmly implanted in my mind, I was thrilled to learn that Annet and her daughter Love planned to attended the 2013 National Conference in Washington, D.C.  Annet and her daughter's attendance would be a great way to strengthen the bond between LPU and LPA.  I hoped that the relationship between the two groups would be the start of an international coalition that could be used to fight on behalf of the Human Rights of people with dwarfism around the world. 

Annet of LPU presenting at General Assembly

Annet came to the conference equipped with stories about Uganda, which she shared with the LPA Board of Directors and with the membership at the General Assembly on Monday morning, July 1.  At both meetings, Annet ran through a power point presentation about LPU and dwarfism in Uganda.  The presentation included horrific information, about babies murdered because of dwarfism, about children caged for years at a time because of dwarfism, and about women who were repeatedly raped because of their dwarfism.  The stories and the facts were unbearable, but Annet presented in professional, formal style, showing little emotion. I don't know what she was thinking, but it seemed to me that she had to detach from the material emotionally, otherwise it would have been too overwhelming. 

Katie (wearing necklace from Uganda) and Gary.

Historically, not many people attend LPA's General Assembly.  Maybe 100 or 150 people attended on July 1 in Washington, D.C. But word of Annet's presentation soon spread and members not in attendance began asking what they could do to support LPU.  Jewelry that Annet and Love sold to raise money for LPU quickly sold out. 

My hope is that attendees of the 2013 LPA National Conference build on the energy that Annet and Love generated by attending the event.  I hope that we can all work together to build a coalition that supports our respective organizations and that supports international initiatives that raise awareness about dwarfism and that protect the rights of people with dwarfism.  Working together, we could generate the support needed for the Ratification of the International Disability Treaty in the United States and for implementation of the treaty around the world.  Working together, we could follow up on the idea of Little People Mexico and have the United Nations recognize October 25 as International Dwarfism Awareness Day. 

Annet and Love made a huge commitment to travel to the United States for LPA's Conference. Scores of other international attendees made a similar commitment.  Around the world, all of us should work hard and work together to find ways to follow up on that commitment.  Doing so, we could make significant progress individually and as a community.

International Relations

People with dwarfism in the United States, like most other people with dwarfism, face challenges directly related to dwarfism, and related to how the world in which we live relates to dwarfism.  These challenges may range from medical impairments such as bowed legs and spinal stenosis, to difficulty accessing doctors with expertise in dwarfism to acquiring physical accommodations in order to access transportation and employment opportunities.  All of these things are legitimate barriers.  Barriers that pose a serious threat to our independence and well being f we are not able to accommodate them.  Though they are all serious, a recent newsletter from a group of little people in Uganda put some of those barriers in perspective.  The newsletter was produced by Little People of Uganda, a group that was formed two years ago to provide support for people with dwarfism in the country.  One story in particular from the newsletter stood out in my mind.  It was a story that we will hopefully never read within the pages of the LPA Today, the quarterly magazine of Little People of America.  The story was from a young man with dwarfism whose baby girl had been murdered by the mother of his girlfriend.  According to the writer, the baby had been murdered simply because her father was a dwarf.  It was not known whether or not the baby girl was a dwarf.  It was devastating to read the story, and to come to grips with the fact that the little girl was murdered because of her connection to dwarfism.  While in the United States there is bias against people with dwarfism, we have protections that will protect us from what happened to the baby girl and her father.  

In addition to the tragedy of the baby girl’s murder, it was difficult to read the story because it didn’t seem that the young man could do anything to hold the murderer accountable for what she did.  There probably is more to the story than what I read, but it seemed as if no criminal charges would be brought against the woman who killed the baby girl.  All the young man could do was seek support from other people with dwarfism in Uganda.  In the Uganda newsletter, the young man wrote, "I felt relieved the first time I shared this story with the members of the Little People Uganda."

I am thankful there is a Little People of Uganda who could give him support.  And I am thankful there is a Little People of America to give people with dwarfism in the United States support.  But in the future, I hope more can be done.  No matter the bias toward dwarfism in the United States and around the world, what happened to the baby girl in Uganda should not have happened to anyone.  We do have resources to fight against such a tragedy.  While I don’t know the details of the convention, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities is one tool was can use to stop this from happening again.  Among other things, the Convention is intended to "guarantee that persons with disabilities enjoy their inherent right to life on an equal basis with others (Article 10), ensure the equal rights and advancement of women and girls with disabilities (Article 6) and protect children with disabilities (Article 7)."  Uganda has not signed the convention.

As LPA increases communications with international groups, I am hoping we can utilize these types of resources to bring international awareness to dwarfism and to strengthen our rights around the world.