The Roloff Family: The giants of social activism
By Mary MacElveen
December 17, 2006
In writing of any form of social activism some times writers focus on the negative instead of the positive. I have been guilty of writing in the negative which has often left me feeling empty and I suppose it makes those who read my pieces feeling the same way. In writing positive pieces or observing positive social activism, instead of leaving one feeling empty, it fills a person. One must admit by observing the positive or reading a positive social activism, it leaves one feeling inspired. What also transpires is the eruption of tears, not filled with sorrow, but ones filled with joy. It also leaves one smiling ear-to-ear.
If I were to ask you who you think are the most powerful forces of social activism, what would your answer be? What cause would they be serving and who would be the recipients of their kind deeds? More importantly are you hearing of them every day? While I will not answer those questions for you, I will choose to place the spot light on a family who I believe moves mountains for the smallest of citizens.
For quite sometime, I have been a huge fan of The Learning Channel’s show “Little People, Big World” which in this writer’s opinion is the best reality show on television. It also spotlights the Roloff family who reside near Portland, Oregon on a 34 acre farm. Matt Roloff along with his wife Amy are dwarfs. They have four children whose names are Jeremy, Zach, Molly and Jacob. Both Jeremy and Zach are twins, but you would not know it since Jeremy is of average height and his twin Zach is a little person. Both Molly and Jacob are of average height.
You would think that being dwarfs would be an arduous life for Matt Roloff, but it is not. In fact one of his favorite words is resilient. For a little person, he is a giant when it comes to social activism and his activism is to help those who are short in stature live lives to their fullest potential. This is not often a condition one thinks of when it comes to helping out their fellow man, but Matt saw a nitch, grabbed it by the horns and ran with it. As one watches him the term boundless energy comes to mind. He never stops and the community of little people are his benefactors.
Often when little people go to hotels, they meet many obstacles such as not being able to reach the sink or hang their clothes in the closet. In 2003, Matt started a company called Access Solutions which sells benches that little people can climb up on to reach what was inaccessible to them in the past. They sell them to many major hotel chains, so if a little person checks in a hotel, they can make use of their facilities. Matt founded this company with his partner, Mike Detjen. Those of us who have checked into hotels think nothing of grabbing for an extra pillow or blanket on the shelf of a closet, but for little people this is an obstacle. To meet that need they also sell a reach grabber.
Amy does not let her size stop her from coaching a soccer team. In one episode that I watched she became the coach. Parents of those playing on this team did not know what to make of her, but to her credit, she proved she could make a goal. Her son Zach since he cannot play for teams that are mainly geared towards average size people, has assisted his mother in coaching this team.
For those of you who are not fully aware of this condition, I invite all of you to read up on Dwarfism. As you will read there are many forms of dwarfism such as achondroplasia, spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, diastrophic dysplasia and many other forms of this condition. These are the people that the Roloffs have been helping. While there is no known cure for dwarfism, there are treatments such as growth hormone treatment and those who have this condition have had to go through numerous surgeries especially on leg bones, hip bones and the spine.
Often those who are little people are discriminated when trying to gain employment and as one watches this show, ‘Little, People, Big World’, it helps to break down the barriers. Hopefully those who once discriminated against little people can see that they are just as able. Matt often speaks to school age children to explain what this condition is so that when they grow up, they will not be the ones that do make fun of little people.
Every year there is a Little People Conference held in various cities. It is a place where little people can come and just be themselves. Often the place in which they reside year round does not have a social support system or a huge population in which these teenagers can socialize. This is something that we average size people take for granted as we raise our average size teenagers. Each year, the Roloff family attends in order to help their son Zach to be with those his own age and more importantly size. It is also a conference in which little people can network. Leaving these conferences is hard since many will not see each other till the next one. Although, Zach has flown to meet two friends who are identical dwarfs. Like Zach, those twins also have boundless energy.
In one episode they met with an orthopedic doctor who examined Zach to see what further surgeries he will need since as I stated above dwarfs often have to go through numerous surgeries. But, as I have watched this show, it does not stop this teenager from fully enjoying life. At these LP conferences, he has made life long friends.
Amy Roloff has been actively involved in Little People of America for some time now and as one sees her network at these conferences as she speaks to teens that are also of small stature. In Amy, they do have a role model in order to learn from. We often see average sized teen girls having a hard time connecting, just think how a teenager who is a little person must feel. That is where women like Amy Roloff do play a huge part in making them understand that the sky is the limit.
In the episode “Matt’s on a Mission” the first mission undertaken by Matt's new organization, the Coalition for Dwarf Advocacy, was to help get a 5-year-old dwarf child adopted by an average-height couple. This little boy’s name is Chance. He was given up at birth since his birth parents were not able to care for him and for the first five years of his life, he spent it in a hospital. Thanks to Matt’s help, he is now adopted out and this organization helped with the cost of this adoption.
While the adoptions of average size children are expensive, the adoptions of these children exceed that since their medical care is something we often do not think of. Chance has been tethered to an air tube for most of his short life, but hopefully soon it will no longer be necessary. He cannot speak at this point, but as I watched this episode, he was able to communicate with his eye brows and hand motions. His new average size parents had been trying for a long time to have a child, without success, but when they saw Chance, they knew they had to adopt him. I must say when seeing this little boy, I did not see him as being physically disabled, but a beautiful little boy with an expressive face.
Everyone has heard the term ‘Must see TV’ and I would have to say that this reality show, “Little People, Big World” is as real as it gets. They are not creating drama, but just showing how a family lives, works and helps their fellow little people. While I have not really spoken of Jeremy, Molly and Jacob who are of average size, Matt and Amy treat all of their children the same. They all work as a family unit and as one watches this show, one does not see the differences only how alike they are. In fact, I no longer see their disabilities, but their abilities to live life to its fullest.
Author's note: Ever since writing this article, I have noticed for quite sometime that this one article has remained in the top ten and even the top five articles read on my blog. I marvel at this and would like to hear feedback as to why you are choosing to read it and how you came about reading it. I am both humbled and honored that Matt Roloff and his mom, Peggy Roloff did email me to thank me for writing this column.
Author's address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
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