14 of 39

Write now Article Tools

Katherine Mary Wolfe stands in front of an imaginary microphone for a play rehearsal. Her friends call her Katie. She is trying very hard not to cry because the scene is a difficult one. Her character's words convey emotional pain that the whole cast can feel. The cast and director of "The Laramie Project" are gathered in a small room on the tenth floor of Hoyt Tower. The scene being practiced describes the horrible condition Mathew Shepard was found in after a beating. The cast is letting tears flow. After Katie is done, each of us bends down to give her a big hug. She is twenty-one and has a genetic form of dwarfism.

"My mom went to a million doctors because they didn't understand why I wasn't growing," Wolfe recalled. She is back at her dorm room, sitting in a chair that overwhelms her tiny body. "I don't know how old I was when they started doing all the tests but I was two years old before they even figured it out. Finally, they went to a gene specialist."
There are actually one hundred different forms of dwarfism. The type of dwarfism Katie has isn't triggered until a child is two. As an adult, he or she will have a normal torso size but have shorter legs, arms, hands and feet and only reach 80-130 cm. The first warning sign is an unusual waddle. According to the Greenburg Center for Skeletal Dysplasias (http://www.hopkinsmedicine.or g), the gene responsible is called cartilage oligomeric protein or COMP for short. In most cases neither parent has dwarfism since the gene is recessive.
Katie gets around campus using a purple scooter. She refers to it as an extra appendage. The scooter resembles the type grocery stores use with a basket attached to the front handlebars. Her horn is not an uncommon sound around campus. Friends wave as she passes them in hallways and outside. Katie jokingly pretends to be slumped over dead as her horn blares away. She was born in Ypsilanti and grew up in Ann Arbor. Like any other college student she has plans for her career.
"I would like to be a director/actor/anything to do with movie," Wolfe said. "I'm taking a lot of production classes and I want to direct. I know whatever I do it's going to have something to do with movies."
Katie has found a way to turn her dwarfism into an advantage. She recalls reading a letter that discussed dwarfism being genetic and thinking, "aha! I'm a mutant! I could be on X-Men!" There is an incredible enthusiasm for life that guides her life.
"I just don't see a point in wallowing in pity, like, oh poor me," Wolfe said. I have a great life. I have amazing parents. I've had a fairly normal life aside from a few things having to be modified." Katie is a vocal advocate of a support group called Little People of America or LPA. The organization has yearly conventions that are attended by little people across the country. There are also meetings for parents.
"My mom joined because she wanted to know what to expect. So she talked to other little people about what to expect at certain stages of my life," Wolfe said. It's easy to get pulled in by her bubbly personality and look past the handicap. That is not always the case when she is out and about.
"I get stared at a lot. I think that it shocks people," Wolfe said. "I think that people get a kind of culture shock. They know it exists but to actually see it in person, it's like wow." The only thing that Katie couldn't do as a child was participate in athletics. However, that didn't stop her from swimming in a private club. She called her peers' reactions annoying.

Learn more about this author, Linda Whiteside.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Living unconventional lifestyles?
We want to hear your view. Write now!