「故事·听力」My Life With Dwarfism

My Life With Dwarfism

Hey, this is Kyle, and he has a condition called Achondroplasia. It means that his torso is of average height, but he has short arms and legs. Kyle wants to share the experience of his everyday life with you.

Both of his parents are average-sized, and he’s the only person in his family with dwarfism. As you may have guessed, life as a little person has its difficulties. And yeah, the preferable terms are a little person or a dwarf. NEVER use the word “midget”, because it originates with freak shows and it’s offensive. But of course, he prefers it when people just call him Kyle!

Kyle comes up against a lot of difficulties from day to day. At home he has to use a step stool to reach cabinets, but sometimes he just climbs them. And he should probably say that, because he does it so often, he’s now pretty good at it! Of course, most of the things at home, such as his bed, table and chair are made so that they’re comfortable for him to use, but it’s different when he’s somewhere else.

Quite often, Kyle can’t reach higher shelves in places like grocery stores (so he has to climb them as well). It’s tiring to sit down while your feet dangle in the air, and it’s always uncomfortable to use ATMs, because he can barely see the display. In order to talk with shop assistants at stores, he has to take a few steps back, because otherwise they wouldn’t see him behind the counter.

And then there are elevators! Sometimes Kyle can’t reach the button that he needs, so he rides in it halfway and then use the stairs. And well, climbing stairs is not a pleasant experience for anyone, so you can imagine how it is for him! Even door handles can be inaccessible to him sometimes.

Then there is the question of buying clothes. Average-sized clothing is too big for Kyle, so he used to buy children’s clothing. The problem is that usually it looks...well, childish. It’s either too bright or with drawings from kids cartoons.

Recently though, he switched to shopping online, which solved most of his problems concerning his choice of clothing.

But honestly, Kyle don’t think about these things too often, because he’s used to it, and it’s always been like that. Yeah, sometimes it can be difficult to do something, but whatever – he can live with that!

What really bothers him is how people often behave towards him. His parents and friends are awesome and he loves them, of course, and even at school people are used to him and the way he is. They did bully him a bit when he was younger, but now if someone so much as tries to, he and his friends don’t tolerate it. So that’s all okay, but it’s different when he’s out in public and people see him for the first time.

Some of them stare, others even point at him and giggle. Some people even take photos of him without trying to hide it. Why do they think it’s okay to take photos of someone without his permission? It makes Kyle feel like he’s part of some kind of display, and he doesn’t like it one bit. He’s a person, not a zoo animal!

Some people shout mean things in his direction, and for some reason they think it’s funny! It doesn't happen too often, but it still does occasionally.

And also, you can’t imagine how many times someone has come up to him and said that he looks like another little person. It’s often something like “Oh, you look just like Peter Dinklage!” And yes, Peter Dinklage is awesome, but not all little people look the same! He’s 50 years old, and Kyle’s 15! Come on! And it’s the same with other famous little people, such as that family from the reality TV show. You get the idea.

There are a lot of other things that drive him crazy, like people trying to talk to him like he’s a child, kneeling down to “his level”, saying how cute he is, or worst of all – someone might PICK HIM UP without asking. That’s not okay! Don’t do that!

On the other hand, sometimes people try too hard to be nice, like by trying to help him in the grocery store. If he needs help, he’ll ask for it.

Basically, it’s very common for people to treat Kyle like either a child or a circus attraction, and he’s neither. Some parents get uncomfortable when their kids ask questions or point their fingers at him, and they try to walk away from him or even apologize. But Kyle thinks that that’s not how you should do it.

Overall, Kyle is a very happy person, and his dwarfism does not define him – he likes to draw; he’s a good student; he particularly likes history and is currently thinking about choosing it somehow as his main subject at college.

He’s also curious to find out if there are other little people watching this channel, so comment if you are one of them and don’t forget to share this video!