In January this year I received an unexpected invitation from Little People of America (LPA) President Eileen Norman. I was blown away when she asked if I was available to be the keynote speaker at the LPA annual banquet in Baltimore, Maryland on July 4th. Wow! What an honor.
Ordinarily I would have jumped at the opportunity. However, health issues had kept attending the Baltimore conference off our schedule. Robert was still immersed in physical therapy after his hospital discharge three months earlier and I was recently hit with severe painful arthritis in my right shoulder. Even though I couldn’t get my head around how I would pull this off, I agreed to pray and think on it before giving an answer a week later.
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In a scheduled phone meeting on February 7th, Eileen satisfied my curiosity as to how my name came up as a potential banquet speaker. I was humbled when she said she had grown up looking at my book “Dwarfs Don’t Live in Doll Houses” on her parent’s bookshelf and believed she was standing on the shoulder of giants. Her vision for the keynote was for members to see our common mission as advocates and for each of us to find our part to play. In order to help people find their role she wanted me to share LPA’s advocacy history and challenge this generation to get involved. I was hooked.
After organizing family caregivers to stay with Robert in my absence, I accepted the invitation to be the keynote speaker. Even in February I knew Robert’s health didn’t allow him to travel, but by March his health took a huge step down. He was in the hospital for ten days and acute rehab for 21 days, followed by in-home therapy three days a week, and outpatient kidney dialysis three times a week. So I waited until we settled into our new routine before finalizing my decision.
But Robert, family, and friends encouraged me to proceed with Baltimore conference plans. And so I did.
In May, I made a flight reservation, ordered 110 “Always an Advocate” books to give away at the banquet, requested an accessible room with a roll in shower and lowered bed, and accepted the LPA Historian’s invitation to videotape an oral history one hour interview. The bonus was the historian’s agreement to reserve Wheelchair Accessible Van rides to and from the airport to the hotel.
With all my extra duties involving Robert’s care, the preparation of my 20 minute speech was spread out over several weeks. In recognizing that banquet guests do not sign up to be lectured and would hope to be entertained, I wrapped my points into bite size packages with lots of stories. I avoided details that take too much concentration.
It remains to be seen how many people rise to my challenge to “be an advocate for positive change.” But judging by the many favorable comments I received after the speech and the number of people lining up to have their gift book autographed, I’m hopeful that LPA members will care enough to do something, remember change is possible, and go out together to change the world.
You may also want to read:
- The full transcript of Angela’s banquet keynote address: “Be an Advocate for Positive Change.” July 4, 2024. https://angelamuirvanetten.com/keynote-speaker/
- “ALWAYS AN ADVOCATE: Champions of Change for People with Dwarfism and Disabilities” by Angela Muir Van Etten. October 2021. https://angelamuirvanetten.com/always-an-advocate/
