ITV's 'My Dwarf Family' [their programme title not my ideal wording...]

I can't stand the word Dwarf.  Whilst some short people have reclaimed it using the word just doesn't work for me because it still has too many negative and derogative connotations.

So it was with trepidation that I watched ITV's 'My Dwarf Family' [was on Thursday 15th August, 2013] - a programme which followed 3 families each of which had one or more members who had achondroplasia, the most common form of short stature.

Although the condition is somewhat different to Kniest Syndrome the issue of short stature does throw up similiar issues whatever the label you give it and it is always interesting to see how other people fare.

I really felt for the young couple [the woman had achondroplasia and the man didn't] grappling with the issue of when to have children [she wanted them now, he didn't].  They both seemed to feel, as we did, that they would want a child whether or not it would be short statured.

Having been there and done that, and having ended up with one child who is short statured and one who isn't, I think I can honestly say that the such a seemingly simple decision can turn out to be hugely more complicated when it becomes a reality...

I also really felt for the parents of the young children who were short statured - the whole 'letting go' of your child, getting them to 'act' their age, letting them be independent just seems so much harder when they are so much smaller than their peers.

Indeed the programme opens with a boy, the height of a 4 year old, cycling by a very busy main road - it looked hideously like a bad idea, but this boy was 11.  Most likely his peers would be allowed to do this so why not him?

Whether the decision was easy or hard for his parents I don't know but there is no doubt that if you are a short statured parent [or wannabe parent] you'll face some very tough decisions along the way, it isn't a process for the fainthearted and perhaps that's why we're such a feisty, resilient lot!

If you want to see the programme it's up for a couple of weeks:

https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/my-dwarf-family/series-1/episode-1-my-dwarf-family

Two Little Boys article in Sept 09 'Junior' magazine

Check out my latest article in Sept 09's Junior magazine. The article talks about my experience of having one disabled and one non-disabled child and is accompanied by some nice photos of all of us.

http://www.juniormagazine.co.uk/news/article.asp?UAN=209

We're just about to move again, Archie is due to start school and Ben will start a new preschool once the dust has settled I'm hoping to get back into writing a bit more... watch this space.

Channel 4 'Born to be Different' - more story, less recap please!

I watched a couple of C4's 'Born to be Different' [BTBD] programmes last night, which I'd taped a few weeks ago. Given that there is so little about disability on TV I always keep my fingers crossed that what is on will do justice to the subject.

The trouble with BTBD is that each programme is basically a recap of each child's life with an added sentence or two to move their story on per programme. The series delights in graphic operations and if you missed them don't worry they are definitely part of the recap. How about more story, less recap.

It's such a missed opportunity as there are some great disabled children in the series and some amazing parents too, in particular Shelbie's mum Vicky - how she kept it all going on her own initially with 4 children, one of who was quite ill...

And whilst many parents might comply with the consultant suggestion that Vicky should basically agree to let Shelbie die at the next opportunity - he would have done it ages ago [well thank god you don't have a disabled child then] - Vicky looks at a very well cared for Shelbie and says she still has plenty of life in her yet.

The thing is that people who don't have disabled children just have no idea what it is like to have one; you don't just snuff them out because they are a bit of a practical or physical hassle or [hopefully not] because your consultant says he would have done it ages ago.

Having a disabled child is an emotional rollercoaster, you get lows but you also get highs. You get a sense of that in BTBD but I just wish you could get an even greater sense of the lives of disabled children and their families rather than wasting so much time on recaps and showing us graphic operations.