SummaryBecky 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.
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