How My Life Would Be Different Without LPA

• Conservative Rush Limbaugh and Liberal Howard Stern would not have criticized me in a radio broadcast on the same day for suggesting that Little People have a “cause.”
• I would not have talked to so many reporters.
• I would not have attended 28 national conferences in 20 states and four countries.
• I would not have received an LPA education scholarship.

• River rafting in the afternoon and modeling my wedding dress in the evening would never have happened.
• I would never have read so many great books written by people with dwarfism.
• I would never have used a scooter to extend my endurance and long term joint maintenance.
• ATMs and credit card readers on gas pumps at my local gas station would still be out of my reach.
• I would have earned fewer frequent flyer miles.
• I would have stayed in fewer hotels.
• I would have missed the free advice from medical experts in dwarfism.
• My T-shirt wardrobe would be deficient.
• I would have missed meeting other Little People with my diagnosis.
• I would have got a lot more sleep.
• I would have fewer friends.
• My photo albums and newspaper clippings would not feature Little People.
• I would not have met so many celebrities.
• I would not have met so many Little People from all over the world.
• I would not have seen an LP toddler grow from jumping up and down on my water bed to graduating from college, and getting married.
• Free time would be a reality not a concept.
• I would not have spent so many weeks of my life in meetings and become proficient with Robert’s Rules of Order.

• I would not have read LPA Bylaws or cared enough to try and change them.
• I would not have laughed and cried so much.
• The opportunity to encourage parents to raise their child with dwarfism with the same expectations and boundaries as their other children would have been lost.
• I would not have learned the lessons that come from being in the majority.
• I would have missed being in the LP melting pot of diagnoses, gender, ethnicity, nationality, economic and faith backgrounds.

This post was adapted from a 2005 LPA Today article. For additional insights, go to Amazon.com and order your copy of my book—PASS ME YOUR SHOES: A Couple with Dwarfism Navigates Life’s Detours with Love and Faith—a new release during Dwarfism Awareness Month in October 2020.