Saturday, October 1, 2011

October Is National Dwarfism Awareness Month!

Its October 1 and for those of you that didn’t know, today is the start of National Dwarfism Awareness month. Awareness of the many forms of dwarfism was reserved for October by the LPA (Little People of America). This is an annual chance to promote education and awareness of dwarfism which is often misunderstood. We would love to take this opportunity in honor of our daughter Kaela and the many people who are touched by dwarfism to talk about some interesting facts.

metatropic dysplasia



  • 80% of people born with dwarfism have parents, brothers and sisters of average height.
  • In 2009, the word “midget” was declared offensive. Alternative terms and phrases to describe a person with dwarfism are: having dwarfism, little person, LP, short stature or the medical terminology of the person’s type of dwarfism. Of course these terms and phrases are less preferable to just using a person’s name.
  • There are over 200 forms of dwarfism with the most common form being achondroplasia.
  • There are about 681,000 people worldwide living with some type of dwarfism.
  • The official organization that represents people with Dwarfism is the LPA which has 6500 members belonging to one of 70 active chapters in the United States.
For more information about dwarfism and National Dwarfism Awareness Month visit the LPA website.

1 comment:

Kim said...

What a wonderful post! I have caught up on your other posts. I've been so busy and thus behind on commenting. The kids are getting so big! I am so glad William is enjoying kindergarten. Pres likes the different things that he gets to do now, like gym class, art class, music. It's amazing how fast they grow up!