Dwarfism: HOW DANGEROUS IS 'SHORT'?

How Short is Short?

By this subheading, I mean two things: the medically accepted meaning and intonation of shortness (in this case, I am talking about dwarfism), its different categories and how short, dwarfish people came to be short, dwarfish people.

So let's roll.

Dwarfism is basically the possession of a short stature due to a genetic or medical diagnosis or condition. For someone to be considered a true dwarf, that person must be around 4feet, 10 inches (147 centimeters), or even less as an adult (pheww, I managed to escape this by just a tad). Let me take it to the real world; although Ariana Grande, popular singer and Pete Davidson's fiancee is not tall, but she is not short neither is she a dwarf. But talk of a person like Peter Dinklage, now that is a dwarf. Even more, I found this new dwarfish attraction- the Warwick Davis family. If you are quite familiar with every season of your Harry Potter movie, then you would have spotted this dude. Funny enough, he met his wife on set. Ok, let me not get into the whole lovey dovey thing right now.

Moving on, empirically, we will find that people who are dwarfs take two different forms:

The Proportionate dwarfism whereby the dwarf has all body parts proportionately short. Each part, limbs, torso and what have you, are small and averagely equal. Most often, this sort of dwarfism is already usually present at birth or happens in early childhood. The Disproportionate dwarfism on the other hand is fraught with unequal body parts. While one body part is small and of average size, yet another part can be above or below average. Whatever causes disproportionate dwarfism also affects the bones big time hence the disproportionate figure.

But rather than call people with such a stature dwarfs, I would rather you just say they are short-statured people. Let's now go on to talk about what occasioned the anomaly present in short stature individuals.

Disproportionate dwarfism is usually caused by any such disorder within the body. Usually, with these disorders present, what instantly follows is that a body with an average trunk and shorter or longer limbs. Of all the disorders that can lead up to dwarfism, the most common one is achondroplasia. Achondroplasia basically affects those who are born to parents o average heights. These parents who are also short in a way normally pass down a mutated copy fof whatever gene causes the disorder as well as a normal copy. The cycle can go on like that with the offsprings getting either a mutated or normal gene from their parents.

Achondroplasia normally leads to an average trunk size, short limbs especially short, upper arms and upper legs. The affected one also grows short fingers that are separated at the middle. This disconnected shortness makes it difficult for them to them to move their elbows. And then with time, they tend to develop bow legs and a lower back that is slightly bent. You can almost guess that the height of someone with achondroplasia can be nothing more than 4 feet.

But achondroplasia is just one of the rare disorders that lead to dwarfism. Another cause is spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita (SEDC). This name sounds danger, right? Well, by all estimation, this disorder is just as serious as it sounds. A person with SEDC is likely to have it all short, from the trunk to the neck to the arms and legs. But there are even more complications. With SEDC, there is usually a deformed hip, a flattened cheekbone, a twisted foot, unstable neck and even a slight hunchback. Someone with SEDC is also prone to arthritis, visual and auditory defects and joint problems.

I don't need to be a psychic to know that you find these symptoms rather disturbing. Well, I do too. Those with proportionate dwarfism do not visibly have the same share of pain as their counterpart. This is because they develop short body parts not due to some rare genetic disorders but because of some circumstantial medical condition that occurred during the pregnancy stages or during early childhood. Usually, the deficiency of growth hormones is usually a cause of proportionate dwarfism. In this case, the pitutuary gland which normally is meant to supply growth hormones to ensure the normal growth of children is slowed down and thus, the child's body parts become equally small; the affected child might also have delay in sexual development even as a teen. The good thing about proportionate dwarfism is that the smallness of the body is equal; the bad part is that this equivalent smallness also causes the body system to develop poorly.

Generally speaking, dwarfism is usually caused by rare genetic disorder that are most likely due to mutations in the sprerm or egg of either parents. For instance, a female child born with a fully or partially missing X chromosome from any of her parents who are supposed to offer her one each is most likely to turn out a dwarf. This particular condition is called Turner's Syndrome. Nutritional deficiencies and other deficiencies are viable causes, but largely, the causes remains unknown.

How Dangerous is Short?

So I can kinda get the feeling that you already are beginning to get a solid picture about the fact that being a dwarf or being short is beyond the appearance, it involves much more. Dwarfism, especially the disproportionate dwarfism usually affects the skull, eye, ears and limbs. For one, children with disproportionate dwarfism usually experience delay in locomotive skills; they may not be able to crawl, walk, or sit up easily. They are prone to losing their hearing abilities, harmful weight gain and arthritis. And then, women with disproportionate dwarfism usually have respiratory complications during child birth. Most times, they have to deliver via surgical procedures as their pelvis is way too small to let them deliver on their own.

Even worse, complications can arise leading to hydrocephalus (a situation whereby the head is filled with excess water). This causes the head to swell disproportionately and be larger than the body. Sleep difficulties coming from breathing challenges, bowed legs, serious hunch back and back pain resulting from the pressure exacted on the spinal cord by the base of the skull are yet other complicating dangers of dwarfism.

As earlier insinuated, dwarfs with proportionate body parts are faced with the challenge of having poorly developed organs. This exposes them to a lot of danger, pain and social vulnerabilities. Warwick Davis, the Harry Potter star I mentioned earlier lost two children to dwarf related crises.

Like I have always said, nothing is ever that simple; and there is never any single story. Through time, dwarfs (or short statured people) have been subjected to ridicule, taunts and social insults. Besides the physical appearance, most people don't look to see the medical inclinations that go along with coming in a small package. This post, I hope, will enlighten many and cause them to see that to completely erase the history of someone, to constantly obliterate their existence, one only has to start with secondly. To merely look at dwarfs with a myopic second glance at their appearance is to start from the rear. Why not turn your gaze and look at the very first thing that defines them: their humanity.

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