Not a Pet: Little People of Israel Open Up

"First and foremost, I'd prefer if you just call me Dudu, not dwarf, midget, or little person." "I think 'little person' is the least offensive." "Yes, I'm a dwarf, so what?"

In a candid interview with Kan 11, Israeli little people open up about questions they are often asked. How do you prefer to be addressed - as dwarfs, midgets, or little people? Do you want us to bend down so you feel less threatened when we speak with you? Or perhaps you want us to pick you up?

"Don't pick us up, don't pat us. We're not small children or pets," says one of them.

When asked if being short is a disease (thankfully they weren't asked if it's contagious), the responses were clear: "No, it's not a disease. It's a kind of genetic mutation," "It's a dominant gene, but it's not a disease," "In medical terms, it's called achondroplasia," "It's a problem with the bones of the limbs - they're short," "Some are born with a big head," "Proportionally to the body, the skull structure is slightly larger, the nose structure is more recessed."

Today, limb-lengthening surgery is an option that medicine offers, but aside from its high cost, little people describe it as an incredibly challenging process. "It's a procedure of breaking the thigh and lengthening the bone. There's a screw on the side that I turn a quarter turn every six hours, and the bone stretches by a quarter of a millimeter every six hours," one explains. "A millimeter a day, a total of 120 days, 12 centimeters."

"It's Days of Tears and a Long Recovery"

They describe it as a long, painful, and nerve-racking process. "It's like a medieval torture rack where all your internal organs are stretched and cut, with infections and pains that can't be explained," they say. "Days of morphine, cold winter because the metal outside is freezing, so in the bones it's cold. You can't bend the leg because the muscles are stretched. It takes 40 minutes to walk from the living room to the bathroom. These are days of tears, and the rehabilitation is very long. Slowly, almost two years, at the end of which I grew another 12 centimeters."

Do you have a small house tailored to your size? was the next question, to which they answered while trying to stifle laughter:

"No, I don't have a Pistachio house," said one.

"No, I have a big tailored house," another laughed heartily. "Why small? I want everything big, and lots of it, and sweet. I don't have anything small. Except for me."

"It's not a dwarf house. Nothing in it is accessible to me. I put the dwarfs outside with a gorgeous garden."

"I have sisters, mom, and dad at home. It has to be tailored to them too. I don't think there's anything visibly tailored to Aya just because she's a little person."

"Nothing is truly tailored, honestly. Not the bed, not the wardrobe. You have to adapt your abilities to navigate the space."