One of the most exciting things I’ve done lately has been to mentor Peggy Roloff, a woman I met at a summer writing conference. She’s “Huny,” mom to Matt Roloff, star of TLC’s “Little People, Big World” program, now going into its fourth season. It’s exciting to work with a celebrity, but more than that, getting to know the Roloffs makes me feel better about disability. This family of dwarves and normal height people captures the public’s imagination by being themselves. They are making important inroads into proving to the world that disabled doesn’t mean incapable. The show is about people and personalities and everything that makes us human, not only about dwarfism. Recently Matt went to Iraq to help families with dwarfism in that war-torn country. I admire him for that, as well as for all he’s done to help the cause of promoting acceptance for the disabled. Interestingly, Peggy told me that Matt had some 53 surgeries in a Portland Shriners Hospital around the same era that I had my arm and hand surgery in Shriners Salt Lake City hospital. We should compare notes.
I’m trying to help Peggy polish her writing for a book about how she and her husband Ron managed to hang onto the faith and marriage while raising one “normal” child and three kids with severe disabilities. I feel honored to be a part of their lives, and the whole thing makes me feel a little less self-conscious about my own disability. Now that’s grace!