The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Joplin Metro

Discussion

October 25, 2009

Members of Little People of America say group provides support, friendship

By Emily Younker

eyounker@joplinglobe.com

Caitlin Marlow was out on the dance floor for almost every song the disc jockey played.

“I try to go to these as much as I can,” the 18-year-old from Little Rock, Ark., said of Saturday night’s costume party and dance for the regional district of Little People of America. “They’re fun, and you get to socialize with people more like yourself.”

About 50 members of the regional district of the organization attended its fall meeting over the weekend at Joplin’s Holiday Inn. It was a chance for families from Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas to socialize and share news from their chapters, said director Karen Shelby.

Shelby said the organization provides medical, educational and parental guidance to individuals and families of little people. One of its primary goals is to get rid of what she calls “the m-word”: midget.

“Refer to us mainly by our names, if you can,” Shelby said. “We’re just like everybody else.”

The event coincided with National Dwarfism Awareness Month, which is celebrated in October and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for people with dwarfism.

Becky Hagen, of St. Louis, said one of the greatest benefits of the organization is sharing information and resources with other parents about their children’s conditions and health care providers. Her 15-year-old son, Nicholas, is a little person.

“The most important thing is knowing there’s someone else in the same boat, and we’re all floating along together,” Hagen said.

Mark Hagen said regular meetings are a good way to gather tips and advice from other parents of little people about common issues, such as which types of footstools are best, which bicycles are suitable and how to make a handle for light switches.

Jack Pollock, president of the Kansas City chapter, has two children. Lindsey, a high-school junior, is of normal stature, and Jesse, 8, is a little person. He said one of the most important things the organization does is help new parents.

“Our family would have had a hard time getting through the first few months without the LPA,” he said.

Meetings such as the one over the weekend also are important for the children and young adults who are growing up as little people, Pollock said.

“For kids, it’s to be with other kids of short stature, and they develop lifelong friendships,” he said.

Pollock said the organization is trying to get older children and young adults more involved so they might one day assume leadership.

“That’s what I want Jesse to do, is become more involved,” he said.

Marlow seems to be one of those involved young adults: This is at least the fourth LPA event she has attended.

“Some of my really close friends I’ve met here,” she said between dances Saturday night. “I would classify everyone here as a friend.”

She said the biggest struggle she faces, and what she hopes will one day change, is public knowledge — or lack thereof — of dwarfism.

“We’re pretty great people,” Marlow said. “A lot of people out there don’t want to come talk to us. Don’t be afraid to ask. That’s what I’d like to tell people.”

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