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[Your Name]

[Instructor Name]

[Course Number]

[Date]

Introduction

Living with Achondroplasia

My name is Andrew Wentworth and I was born and raised in Wisconsin in the united

states of America. I am seventeen years of age and I come from a family of four. My mother

works as a tailor and my Dad owns a grocery store. My elder sister studies at the Nursing

University of Wisconsin. My childhood there was not exciting at all. I spent most of my hours

isolated from the other kids, and to me, this was somehow agitating. No child would accept the

fact that I was suffering from achondroplasia dwarfism. They thought I didn't belong to this

world and some of them even went too far from calling me funny nicknames which lowered my

self-esteem and sometimes made me cry. Achondroplasia” is the word that haunted me in my

childhood. I appeared very shy to both my teachers and my classmates. Due to my short stature

of about four feet, I fell victim to bullies who would take advantage of me by threatening me and

telling me how feeble I was. Sometimes they would go too far to throwing me to a junkyard.

My parents were very supportive and had already accepted my condition. They tried their

level best to take me to a diagnosis and treatment facility where specialized doctors examined me

for my dwarfism-related disorder. The doctor usually conducted a prenatal ultrasound to see how

disproportionate my limbs were. I was so open to Dr. Lincoln in a way such that in every session

of my medical examination, he used to tell me how blessed I was with careering parents. He also

gave me hope and told me never to give up on life as long as I’m breathing
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Dr. Lincoln knew how harsh society is especially for the disabled. I knew I would lose so

many opportunities in life but Dr. Lincoln’s words kept me going. At this moment, at my age, I

vividly knew the only thing shielding me from the world was my family. Living as a short person

made me a center of attraction. Everywhere I went, the world acted as my paparazzi. As people

kept looking at me as if I was a celebrity. At times I sat alone and thought of my life as a big

circus where people will never have enough of you. Every time I walked in a public place people

never lacked a word to say to, I received both negative and positive opinions from different

people. Those who address me positively make me realize suffering from Dwarfism is not a big

deal and therefore keep me going.

Whenever I faced rejection, I would go to a quiet place away from everyone just to spend

some reasonable amount of time by myself. At times I would console myself by convincing

myself I am not the only dwarf person in the world. I swore never to let my condition define who

I was. I learned to accept rejection as I knew, it was inevitable. I only prayed to God to give me

the courage to face it.

Apart from the daily challenges I face, my condition also helps me win some privileges

such as being nominated in the American Mime Theatre. The scriptwriter there had a role that

could only be taken by a short person, and the person assigned to it feel sick instantly.

Unfortunately, the play could not be postponed and couldn’t be of success without all characters

on stage. Unfortunately, the characters laid his eyes on me and brought me up quickly to the

stage. This was an opportunity worth not rejecting o I accepted the role. For once in my life, I

have never been accepted looked upon by people like I was at that moment. At least that made

me happy.
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Things flowed easily and I took up the role very well. I was not disappointing. I told my

parents about this and they were so excited about it. My sister even went the extra mile and

hugged me tightly in her arms. When the play day reached, I was a bit nervous but I got over it.

The play went on well and in the end, we received huge applause from the audience. We had

performed exemplary well. I felt very good for being part of the team. At that moment, my

biggest fear of dwarfism became my stronghold and I immediately stopped thinking of myself as

someone of a different species

To feel much appreciated by the outside world, I started looking for people with the same

condition as mine. My goal in mind was to create a seminar once a week for anyone within my

location who suffers from dwarfism. By doing this we would be able to breakdown our biggest

challenges and keep on encouraging one another no matter what people say This was possible

with the help of my mother who stood with me on almost every aspect of my life. After a week I

was able to find fourteen people who also suffer from achondroplasia. We held our seminar on

Wednesdays at a local church and we were able to discuss the challenges we face in our daily

lives and their possible solutions

Our efforts to bring us together as people experiencing the same problems started

catching people’s attention and during our regular seminar, other people started showing up in

huge numbers. And supporting us. They had realized that regardless of our condition, we are part

of them. Church funding’s enabled the creation of a reality Tv show which featured all our

seminars and aired everything that we discussed. We believed that through the reality tv show,

people's impression of us would change drastically. The show also acted as a pathway for any

other person suffering achondroplasia out there to be respected and

appreciated.
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Many people around the world recognized us and some of them even went a step further

to support us both emotionally and financially. We, therefore, agreed to fight for dwarfism

around the globe. An organization was then created which brought about petitions which fight

for the rights of every dwarf person around the world. The organization’s logo stated, “short but

not short-lived”. This made everybody understand that every dwarf person deserves a chance to

live regardless of their physical form. The actions people started making vividly showed that

hate towards the dwarf people was no longer there.

Short people started being considered disabled no more as the society came to its realization that

short people can perfectly well in some areas such as the entertainment industry

Concerning mass media, dwarfs are rarely depicted as ordinary human beings, or shown

as disabled people, but are instead depicted in a voyeuristic manner that is mostly related to

humor or mythology. Whilst there have been few film or television roles available to dwarfs,

those that have mostly dwell on their dwarfism and fail to present them as ordinary human

beings Although reality shows may be a good way of challenging and changing people’s

attitudes towards dwarfs, those shows have to challenge stereotypes instead of playing on them.

With the demise of freak shows, reality shows may provide another way for people to view

dwarfs.

Different norms are considered to be related to the dwarfism condition. Different people

have different ways of how they respond to such conditions. Different studies such as psychiatric

assessments have been conducted to gauge how people suffering from dwarfism respond to

stressful situations. It has been found that most short people face problems in finding sources of

employment. Studies also show that they also face problems in finding a partner for partner
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perception of little people is found to be media-driven. Many short peoples are said to be highly

engaged in the entertainment industry. Studies say that many short people do this to utilize their

physical appearances which fit pretty well in the entertainment industry

About mass media, dwarfs are rarely depicted as ordinary human beings, or shown as

disabled people, but are instead depicted in a voyeuristic manner that is mostly related to humor

or mythology. There have been few film or television roles available to dwarfs, those that have

mostly dwell on their dwarfism and fail to present them as ordinary human beings. Dwarfs are

prominent in films such as Freaks (1932), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), The

Wizard of Oz (1939), where their dwarfism is their main feature and played upon in a comedic or

fantasy way. A dwarf is rarely an ordinary human being, but rather a mischievous being, happy

to be ridiculed and always to be laughed at rather than with. In mythology, dwarfs play a

prominent role along with elves, leprechauns, imps, dragons, and unicorns.

Cultural representations are a contributing factor to discrimination against disabled

people within society. The way that dwarfs are presented may shape people’s perceptions of

them and, subsequently, the way those people interact with dwarfs. Focusing on cultural

stereotypes and personal beliefs, dwarf people are perceived as weird, incapable, and childlike.

Some beliefs go contrary to the cultural construction of how the role of the dwarfs in the

entertainment industry Although it is still acceptable to use dwarfs for amusement purposes,

often in derogatory roles that negatively construct dwarfism, there are a growing number of

dwarf’s actors refusing to play as those characters. To further defy stereotypical representations

of dwarfs, several participants suggested giving dwarfs more serious and/or roles to play, as

opposed to being a figure of fun

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