Which awareness month is it?

October has been declared National Dwarfism Awareness Month by Little People of America (LPA), the national support organization for people with dwarfism and their families. And of course, I moved to an amazing area of the United States because both Indiana and Oklahoma have also had legislation to declare National Dwarfism Awareness Month, statewide starting this year, 2011! How awesome, right?

Except, this makes me wanna throw-up: on October 3, 2011, Florida Representative Ritch Workman introduced HB 4063, legislation that would repeal a state ban on dwarf tossing. Apparently, it's a game to throw Little People into mattresses at some bar, to see how far one can throw them. This legislation would overturn that, ruling that it's perfectly healthy and normal to toss PEOPLE into a mattress in a bar just because they're little. Is this NOT discrimination? Little People are more than a tool for games, for entertainment, for characterization in music videos (all the small things comes to mind), they're PEOPLE. LPA urges members and allies to sign a petition against HB 4063 at Change.org and contact Representative Workman to demand that he withdraw HB 4063.

So, why am I discussing Little People stuff?

Laynie Wynn, 2 months old.

Laynie Wynn, 13 Months old, eating MY 30th bday cake.

 

 

Laynie Wynn around 14/15 months

LW working hard at Physical Therapy.

Laynie Wynn 18 Months, VBS

Laynie Wynn, 20ish months, eating frozen yogurt with dad.

 Yep, this little girl, has Achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism. But what makes her so special to us? We, the Marine and I are her God-Parents. The parents of Ms. Laynie Wynn, are the besties of Jen and her Marine. So, she's kinda special. Laynie Wynn is perfect, she just has a medical condition in which she'll have shorter limbs than "normal" and shorter stature. It is the most common form of dwarfism. Both her parents are "normal" height, so it was something God stitched together especially for Laynie Wynn.

Laynie Wynn has had two surgeries in her life; one to remove bone at the base of her neck when she was two MONTHS old, and the second to remove tonsils for breathing purposes. She's outsmarted all the doctors guesses about her and continues to thrive partly because her parents are AMAZING and partly because she's so awesome herself. She's got this little two year old attitude already and it's hilarious to watch her personality just shine. I mean, you can see the personality oooze in these photos

Don't even THINK about touching her puffs aka baby crack.

Must.have.food.NOW!

She's too cute and talking up a storm of things she refuses to translate. Also, "mama" is refused to be uttered from her lips, too. Poor, Rachel. She can ask ya "what is that?" which means she's going to start taking things apart soon, like her daddy and Papa Bravo (the Marine) do. Oh man, I miss her and just wanna squeeze her up. We became good buddies when they came to visit in February. oh, the spoiling...hahaha.

Won't you check out Little People of American dot org and learn, read, and get to know things. There's been loads of advances in the community and as of 2009, the term MIDGET is finally called OFFENSIVE. There's still a long road to go in people accepting Little People as equals in intelligence, jobs, and social status, but YOU can help with that. Inform yourself that yes, while their bodies are little, Little People are the exact same as YOU are, but have more determination, dedication, and endurance because of the things they have had to overcome in their lives.