Some hesitate, others smile but all would like to touch these little persons, these little dwarfs some even say. But nowadays, it is considered more appropriate to refer to us as little people. We recognize as little people all those born with one of some 100 medical diagnoses related to dwarfism. In Quebec, 3 500 persons are living with a medical diagnosis always recognized by specific congenital malformations generated by one form of dwarfism.

It is important to know that anyone can give birth to a child with dwarfism; 8 cases out of 10 are simply due to some sort of chromosomic disorder.

However, one thing is common to all : those concerned are left with a profound weakness of their bone structure, always affec-ting the growth process, therefore creating the small stature we all recognize. So, as a reminder, never forget that those living with dwarfism are, medically speaking from their birth and all through their life, persons bearing physical as well as functional limitations, also called handicaps.

This definition of dwarfism is incomplete without a second level of limitations, being the never ending list of social and environmental situations in which all little people are helpless. These are those realities in which normal duties such as reaching for commodities or facing public counters become total nightmares. We are confronted with a double handicap: one is related to our physiological deficiencies coupled with architectural difficulties where everything is always too high.