Re: That first moment of understanding

[Guest guest]

Adel,

I was hoping you would ask us something a little less thought provoking like,

" what did you think of the president's speech last night? " .

Karla

That first moment of understanding

 

My warmest greetings, everyone! I know our individual experiences

on this may vary in many ways, and I think it would be especially good

to share this aspect of our journey with each other here. When, and in

what way did you " learn " you were more unique than most? Was a sense of

worth and acceptance instilled in you to help deal with all the challenges we

have, besides the ignorance and ridicule we encounter too? Were you given a

positive awareness about being an LP, so you could build a (needed) strong

sense of self worth?

You just never know how much what you may share here, will actually be

what others need most...like perhaps, some of the dear parents of LP

children we have here.

Thank you, everyone, and take care,

Adelaide, Moderator

Dwarfism Group

[Guest guest]

Karla, it is kind of like this...a moderator trying to keep coming up with

fresh, new, interesting, enticing, safe, or even fun, dwarfism related

topics she is really running out of, in an attempt to bolster up and keep

going our somewhat participation-dwindling-times-are-a-changing-group, so if

you and anyone else have ideas for less thought provoking, or even thought

provoking topics, I would be SO thrilled! Only please keep in mind everyone,

those Dwarfism

[Guest guest]

I'm sorry your teacher was so mean.   It's much better  when your teacher  

allows you  to line up the way you want .  Those memories shape who we are

..  I like your attitude. 

K

Re: That first moment of understanding

     Karla, it is kind of like this...a moderator trying to keep coming up

with fresh, new, interesting, enticing, safe, or even fun, dwarfism related

topics she is really running out of, in an attempt to bolster up and keep going

our somewhat participation-dwindling-times-are-a-changing-group, so if you and

anyone else have ideas for less thought provoking, or even thought provoking

topics, I would be SO thrilled!  Only please keep in mind everyone, those

Dwarfism

[Guest guest]

Re:

....when did you realize you were a little person?

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;\

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Great discussion topic! I'm not sure when I first realized, however, when I was

in high school I wrote an essay about when I first met other dwarfs and although

I felt oh-so-mature then, it was barely a decade later (as opposed to now!) I

don't have the essay anymore, but it helped cement the memory.

I don't know if I actually remember meeting Meinhardt Raabe as Lil for

Mayer Co in the summer of 1966. I suspect most of the mental images I

have have been manufactured around the story of meeting him at our local

supermarket. I do remember his showing my brother and I the weinermobile in the

parking lot. He told my family about LPA. My folks had heard of it but there

wasn't any activity in northern New England back then and my folks didn't know

it was for families too, they thought it was for adults only. My first

authentic memory that I can vouch for was months later when my mom and I drove 3

hours to greater Boston for an LPA meeting that was all adults except one other

family with a baby (Ginny and I have remained friends, now as moms to teens).

There were very few achons at this gathering, perhaps only Ginny and myself,

maybe one adult. Not that I knew anything about dwarfism, let alone diagnoses,

but I knew I was short and they were short, but I didn't think we looked much

alike, beyond that, they had unusual voices, unusually contorted bodies,

wheelchairs, crutches, etc. , the guy who hosted the meeting had OI and

used a wheelchair. He was brilliant and an expert on birds. I was impressed

with that. , I believe worked with IBM cards and to this day I don't know

what kind of dwarfism she had, (when she went to Hopkins for back surgery 14

years later when I was a college freshman, I took over as district director.)

I do remember telling my kindergarten classmates about this new affiliation with

some pride.

I don't really know when I first noticed that I was different. I was 6 1/2 when

I started kindergarten (later the same year we went to that LPA meeting, after

meeting Raabe/Lil ), so I may have been sheltered in that way. I had tons

of colds and ear infections, didn't have first tubes until 6 either, so I think

I was probably oblivious to things. I may have eased into the identity and LPA

put a positive spin on it for me. I was lucky with teachers and the community,

was rarely hassled esp in my hometown which was a growing suburb so there were

always new kids, but they were outnumbered by kids that knew me and even when

schools merged in 4th grade, it was ok.