Being Bullied Because of My Disease

1.14.2015 

A Challenge I Overcame- Being Bullied Because of My Disease

I am three feet, eight inches tall. When I go out in public, people stare at me with weird looks on their faces. When I walk past young children, the ask their parents why I am so short while pointing right at me. I have gotten used to all of this. I know that when someone sees a dwarf, especially if it is for the first time, they will wonder why the dwarf is so short. When people ask me, I explain to them that I have a disease and that there is nothing wrong with my brain, I am just short. 

When I was in elementary school, children would ask question about my disease. They would never really make fun of me because of how short I was. At that stage of my life, we were all still growing. It wasn't until middle school when I really started to deal upset because of achondroplasia. At least once every two weeks, someone would make fun of me. Every time this happened, I would pretend like it didn't bother me that people would make fun of me at school. When I would get home after a rough day (I frequently had bad days), I would cry. My parents helped me to get through this. They encouraged me, told me that I was beautiful and that it doesn't matter how tall or how short a person is. 

My first day of high school  is a day that I will never forget...It was one of the worst days of my life. I walked into a classroom, went up to ask my teacher if I was in the right class when suddenly a boy yelled out "hey shorty! you don't belong in this school! go back to kindergarten, where you belong!!". I was humiliated! I ran out of the room and into the bathroom, where I stayed all day, crying. When school was over and I went home, my parents encouraged my to not let one boy ruin my life. I went back to school. There were good days and bad ones, days of being made fun of by my peers and days of people being kind towards me. 

BULLYING

During my sophomore year, I got evolved with a program that really helped me. The program is called Little People of America.  It gave me an opportunity to go to events full of people who are going through what I am- I made friends who have achondroplasia dwarfism. It was amazing to meet people the same size as me! People who go through the same struggles as I through, people who understand what it is like to be bullied because of how small you are. If you are a person with achondroplasia dwarfism, I would highly recommend that you meet, face to face, people who are just like you. For more information about Little People of America, Click Here.

Being bullied throughout middle school and high school is something that is very hard to go through. Never give up! If you are bullied, do not let it get to you. The bullies do not deserve to make you upset!!! :) I am writing this post because I do not want anyone to let other people ruin their life.