As Benjamin Franklin rightly said: “In this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.” The difference is we know the date for paying taxes, but not the day our Maker will call us to account for how we have lived. Even so, both days will go better with proper planning. Just as it’s advisable to file an accurate and timely tax return, the process of dying can be ameliorated with an advance directive, known in some parts as a living will—a legal document that explains how you want medical decisions about you to be made if you are unable to make the decisions yourself. Want to subscri ..read more

Hundreds of disabled protestors and allies gather in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza – Image Credit: The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund On April 5, 1977, a group of people with disabilities staged a sit-in protest in San Francisco to demand greater accessibility and accommodations for people with disabilities. This historic protest became known as the “504 Sit-in.” Although there were disability protests and Sit-ins across the country, San Francisco’s was the longest. The protests were sparked by the government’s failure to implement Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of ..read more

Social Security Administration (SSA) overpayment cases were stressful for beneficiaries and time-consuming for me as a disability advocate. For example, in the course of one year, Linda received several letters from the SSA claiming that she had been overpaid amounts ranging from $9,425 to $18,586. The SSA didn’t explain why the amount for which they claimed repayment kept increasing. Linda was on the verge of a breakdown when SSA sent a letter saying that she wouldn’t receive any benefit payment the next month. Linda had lost one home to Hurricane Frances—she didn’t want to lose her curren ..read more

President Angela with Board member Election season is in full swing in American politics. When I look back 20 years I am reminded of the time I was persuaded to run for national office. No, not as a representative of the people in the United States, but as a Vice President of Little People of America (LPA). March 31, 2004 was the day I announced my candidacy, one day before the April 1st deadline. My husband, Robert, completely got my attention when he said I should run for president. I was reluctant to run for any office. It meant shelving any work on our marriage memoir, Pass Me Your Shoes ..read more

Goodreads, the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations, was a natural place for me to post details on my dwarfism memoir trilogy. In the Ask the Author section a self-professed genuinely curious person posed the question, What’s It Like To Be Little? She prefaced her query with “You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to because I don’t want to be offensive.” Even though I didn’t take offense, I worked hard not to cause offense with my answer. I thought it was an odd question given that my writings discuss what life is like for a Little Person and she wrote her qu ..read more

Despite being called one of the ten worst inventions of the millennium—alongside the Spanish Inquisition, advertising, and nuclear war—dwarf tossing threatened to return to Florida in 2001. Dave the Dwarf, a Tampa radio personality, filed a lawsuit asking a federal court not to enforce the 1989 Florida law that banned dwarf tossing in licensed establishments. The lawsuit claimed that the law was unconstitutional and irrelevant to any valid public purpose. The plaintiff pleaded the right to start a dwarf-tossing business. The radio station used the litigation to launch a successful media stu ..read more

More than 10,000 wheelchairs and other mobility devices are mishandled or damaged every year during air travel! The United States Access Board is a reliable source for this appalling statistic. Tears, injuries, missed vacations and events, and irreparable harm cannot be compensated with apologies, loaner wheelchairs, delayed and inadequate repairs, or flight credits. So finally after years of intensive advocacy by disabled travelers and disability organizations, relief is in sight. Want to subscribe to receive blog updates sign up today! First Name Last Name Email address: Leave this fi ..read more

Medical emergencies, life-threatening situations, or crimes in progress can all trigger emergency calls. Depending on our country of residence, we call three digit numbers—000, 211, 911, or 999—to request help. My first experience calling 911 was in 2017 when my husband Robert was in respiratory distress at the Little People of America’s 60th anniversary banquet in Denver, Colorado. Just as our meals were served, Robert’s breathing became so labored he was unable to eat. He returned to our hotel room to use his C-PAP machine, but this wasn’t enough to stabilize his breathing. Want to subs ..read more

February 14th is for sharing the love of books and reading and, of course, for sharing love with your valentine. It’s hard to miss Valentine’s Day, but how did I miss International Book Giving Day? It’s been active since 2012 and is celebrated in 44 countries, including the United States. Whatever the reason for missing it in the past, now I know to use it to increase access to and enthusiasm for books. As a child, my siblings and I didn’t go to bed with square eyes from watching too much television, rather we went to bed with a book to read. Little did we know how much this contributed to ..read more

February is an exciting month for football fans, but figure skating is more my style. I often wonder at how skaters get right up after they fall and continue skating. Apparently it’s one of the first lessons skaters learn. Indeed, Scott Hamilton—American figure skater and 1984 Olympic champion—counted 41,600 skating falls. Building on this experience, in 2017, the U.S. Figure Skating founded National Get Up Day on February 1 as a day to share inspiring stories of perseverance and the power of never giving up. So today I’m sharing a snippet of the story of what it took for Little People of A ..read more