Little is known about little people

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/10/2010 (5784 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Just because she’s little doesn’t mean she’s not quick. At just four feet tall, 27-year-old Connie Magalhaes is faster than you might expect.

“They call me the roadrunner,” laughed Magalhaes, an achondroplasian dwarf and president of the Little People of Manitoba.

She coaches a 16-and-under girls soccer team, takes zumba classes and plays Ultimate (Frisbee).

“My team is always very surprised — I move fast,” said Magalhaes, who has a regular-sized torso with short arms and legs. “My legs move very fast.”

The fast-paced, co-ed team sport caled Ultimate is like football only there’s no contact and they use a flying plastic disc.

“I can keep up to an average person,” she said. Magalhaes plays “cutter,” keeping opponents from getting the disc away from the handlers.

Her specialty is anticipating the play. “I can read it pretty well, knowing where it’s going to go.”

Magalhaes’ problem is off the playing field, with the gawkers and doubters.

“Little people can do anything big people can do, just in a different way… Sometimes they go far and beyond what average people would do.”

The government worker with a post-secondary education mentors young little people and educates the general public. This year, the non-profit organization founded in 1981 marks October as its first Little People Awareness Month in Manitoba.

Statistically, dwarfism happens to one in 30,000, so Magalhaes figures there are 40 little people in Manitoba. And little is known about them.

“People have questions in regards to us,” said Magalhaes, who attended high school at St. Mary’s Academy.

TV “reality” shows, like Little People, Big World, have helped dispel some of the myths and misunderstandings, said Magalhaes.

“The biggest thing is terminology — those types of shows have educated people in who we are,” she said.

“Midget is a very offensive word for our little-people community,” she said. The term harkens back to the mid-1800s at the height of the freak show era where short-statured people were displayed for the public’s amusement, she said. “Little person” is the politically correct term, said Magalhaes. Preferably, call them by their names, she said.

“We’re not just a label, we’re actual people,” said Magalhaes.

The Little People of Manitoba organization is trying to create more awareness, said Magalhaes.

“There will always be that person that doesn’t know and is surprised by seeing a little person,” she said.

“It’s good for adults to teach their kids people come in all different shapes and sizes,” said Magalhaes.

“Sometimes adults are embarrassed when kids ask questions — they’ll say ‘don’t look at her!'”

Of the 60 members of Little People of Manitoba, 28 are little people, nearly half of whom are under 18.

“A lot do great in school,” said Magalhaes. “Their classmates are good to them, they have a special chair, they’re comfortable. There are also other kids who are teased and bullied in school and don’t know how to react,” she said. “We tell them to use your words — tell them just because you’re little doesn’t mean you can’t play soccer. You tell your teacher. Tell your parents.”

Magalhaes said she was fortunate to have had older siblings looking out for her growing up.

“I never had that problem,” she said.

“I just think you need to set a good example,” she said. “I have no problem. I’m confident with myself, with the things I do. I’m confident with the person I am and going out there and I’m like anybody.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

There are 250 types of dwarfism

 

More than 80 per cent of little people are born to average-size parents with no history of dwarfism in the family.

Why so small? Born that way. The condition is know as dwarfism and is caused by a genetic mutation.

There are 250 different types of dwarfism. Achondroplasia is the most common. The genetic condition results in disproportionately short arms and legs. The average height of adults with achondroplasia is four feet.

 

— Source: Little People of Manitoba