LPA District 13

"My story isn’t anything different than most probably. I spent most of my childhood in and out of the hospitals due to my feet and legs. Thank god for my Mom sticking through all of that with me. I am the only dwarf in my family and up until I was in my late 20s I had never met another LP. To this day I really don’t know which form of dwarfism I have.

Like most I endured being made fun of during elementary and dealing with the usually public gaffs and laughs. As I got older I learned to avoid certain places and people, which worked out ok for a while; now I don’t worry at all about it and go where i want. It was definitely a self confidence issue but I managed to work it out during my 20s. I was always interested in LPA but coming from a family with no other LPs I felt like I would not belong and to be frank I was in denial most of the time that I was an LP. Most APs always assume I came from a huge clan of little people for some reason.

After meeting Philip (another LP) I realized I had more in common with LPs, we all work and struggle just like everyone else in the world. Sometimes I wish I would have figured that out earlier. Since then I have moved to Georgia and do my best to become more involved with the organization. I have only been able to make one chapter meeting (and had a great time) but I look forward to many more and hopefully making it to a national conference. I am also looking forward to getting to know my Chapter 21 better."

John McGee, Chapter 21

"When I was 4 years old, I fell off the hood of a car and landed head first onto a concrete patio and was fine for years after that until I was about 13 years old. Then I was diagnosed with epilepsy, a calcium deficiency and a thyroid condition, which my doctor said together was called paraseudohypothyroidism, which he also said was a form of dwarfism but then again he wasn't really an expert on dwarfism so I am not sure if my illness really is or if he just thought that."

Thomas Patterson