"Thought-provoking"

In 1992 Dan and Barbara Kennedy felt they owned the world with the birth of their first daughter. However, that realm is rocked when the doctor informs the couple that their daughter Becky suffers from achondroplasia, the most commonly known form of dwarfism. The good news is that the child will have a normal life span and intelligence. Once the shock passes, the couple showered their beloved firstborn with love and encouragement.

Besides the reaction and insight into how Becky sees the world, the author researched dwarfism past and present and explains quite succinctly the distinction between various types of dwarfism. In an ironic twist from what one would expect Mr. Kennedy also makes a poignant somewhat emotional argument against genetic cleansing eliminating many of these "differences" outside the acceptable mainstream of society. He feels diversity should be honored and included for the better good of all. Not everyone will agree with the author out of concern for the individual, but Mr. Jenkins fears homogeny may go too far for society as a whole.

Parts warning, parts loving and nurturing, and parts historical, LITTLE PEOPLE: LEARNING TO SEE THE WORLD THROUGH MY DAUGHTER'S EYES is a powerful angst-laden social treatise inside a tender family journal.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted October 17, 2003

Summary

Becky Kennedy was more than her parents had bargained for. Born a dwarf, her early medical problems nearly overwhelmed the family's resources. But as surely as she recovered and grew into a healthy little girl, Becky became more than Dan and Barbara Kennedy could have hoped for: not a merely a miniature likeness of themselves, but a little person with such a unique perspective that she opened their eyes to a whole other world. In Little People, Dan Kennedy confronts the deepest of parental fears: What if my child is different? His search for an answer provides a penetrating look at how our culture of diversity clashes with the reality of disability and the belief that we have a right to the so-called perfect child. A week after her birth in 1992, Dan Kennedy's firstborn daughter was diagnosed with achondroplasia, the most common type of dwarfism. Reassured by doctors that Becky would have normal intelligence and a normal life span, Dan and his wife, Barbara, quickly adjusted to the reality of her condition. What wasn't so easy was grasping people's attitudes toward those with physical differences. In Little People, award-winning journalist Dan Kennedy explores dwarfism from ancient times, when dwarfs held an honored position in some cultures, to more modern days when they were featured in freak shows and treated as human guinea pigs by Nazi scientists. While sharing his own poignant experiences, Kennedy works in wonderful passages about dwarf subculture, including the fever pitch of the dating scene during the annual Little People of America convention, and the caste system that exists among those with different varieties of the condition. Kennedy profiles individuals whose small stature has helped them to succeed, and others who have allowed themselves to be exploited and abused. But the most controversial ground covered in the book is the author's hard look at medical screening procedures, or designer genetics, that already make it possible for parents to eliminate differences ranging from dwarfism to Down syndrome and could soon target genetic traits such as manic depression and homosexuality. While it is true that there has never been a better time for those who are outside the mainstream, whether one is wheelchair-bound, mentally challenged, or gay, it is also clear that most parents do not wish these differences for their own children. Kennedy argues that there is a cultural value to preserving differences, and that eliminating them may harm society in unpredictable ways.