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Little People of Ontario, Little People of Canada. Have you heard these names before?
Hello everyone!
I am Jolene MacDonald from Accessibrand, and I'd like to welcome you to the second season and the 8th episode of our podcast "Why Access Matters".
[Music]
Welcome to our podcast episode of "Why Access Matters."
[Music]
Since June 2022, "Why Access Matters" proudly and happily brings you thoughts and talks about accessibility every last Friday of each month, and we invite you to listen to our first season on your favorite podcast platform. All of our episodes are standalone talks, but each of our guests brings their own valuable, unique perspectives and thoughts to the topic, concept and necessity that is accessibility, and we encourage you to listen to all of them!
Today, we have two amazing guests, Allan Redford and Isabella Lamanna, who are involved in Little People of Canada, the Little People of Ontario, and the Dwarf Athletic Association of Canada. They will share their experiences and insights into the organization and their work to raise awareness and acceptance around dwarfism. But before moving to their interview, let us summarize these organizations:
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The Little People of Ontario Website says that the LPO: "[Having been] started in 1965, and operated entirely by volunteers, the Little People of Ontario is a provincial, registered charitable organization that provides life-long fellowship, support and information to people of short stature, their families and friends in Ontario".
Little People of Canada was founded later in 1984 as a national non-profit to support and advocate for individuals with dwarfism and their families across Canada. The organization's mission is to enhance the lives of people with dwarfism and to promote social acceptance and understanding of the condition.
In the following conversation, Allan Redford and Isabella Lamanna both have a type of dwarfism and share their thoughts on accessibility and inclusion. Isabella Lamanna, talks about physical disabilities, hidden disabilities, and how accessibility benefits everyone. Allan highlights the importance of treating others with kindness and respect. This conversation reminds us that making minimal changes can make a big difference in people's lives. Let's dive in!
[Music]
Jolene MacDonald:
Thank you for joining us and I'm excited for you to both be guests on our podcast, why Access Matters. So I'd like you to introduce yourselves first, please.
Allan Redford:
I'm Allan Redford and I am the president of the Little People of Canada, the Little People of Ontario, as well as the Dwarf Athletic Association of Canada.
Jolene MacDonald:
Awesome. And over to you.
Isabella Lamanna:
My name is Isabella Lamanna and I am a member of LPO. I do a lot of volunteering for both DAAC (Dwarf Athletic Association of Canada) and LPO (Little People of Ontario) but right now I am a university student at the University of Guelph.
Jolene MacDonald:
Awesome, thank you. And I know you're involved in another new piece to do with Little People of Ontario. Did you want to talk about that a little bit?
Isabella Lamanna:
Sure. So over the summer I had this great idea come to mind and I brought up to Allan and that was to start a program where myself and two other little people attend different schools, specifically usually elementary schools and talk about our condition and kind of raise awareness and acceptance around it.
Jolene MacDonald:
Awesome. Thank you, Isabella. So going on to our next question, I think we obviously, I've known you guys for quite some time. I've been part of Little People of Ontario since Joy was basically under 1, I think, and she's going to be 12 this year. So, our question is about talking a little bit more about your organization and what brought you to the organization. Obviously it's probably with lived experience, but I'll let you talk about that each independently and a little bit more, if you don't mind, Allan, over to you.
Allan Redford:
I started actually I was kind of involved in the organization quite late in my own life. Often through the local LP organizations it would be the parents that would bring their child in. I think that's kind of like what happened to you, Jolene
And I went in and it was an eye-opening experience and that was the first time I put my hand up and volunteered for a position and I became the secretary treasurer of the Little People of Canada at that time. And then I keep putting my hand up to volunteer. I could see the impact that these groups were having on the community. It was the community's comradery, the enthusiasm, the ability to talk about and experience things sometimes in a different way than you would in an average size world. So that's how I got involved was it's a fantastic experience.
Jolene MacDonald:
I'm sure growing up, having dwarfism, you would've wished that you had something like this sooner. So it must have been nice to have that when you were older.
Allan Redford:
Well, I don't want to say yes and no because I don't want to say I don't regret anything that's ever happened. I think just I've enjoyed my life and I have just encouraged other people. It is perhaps, and what I've learned through the organization is being part of the board or as executive seeing the positive impact that it has had, not only on the parents, because initially I think that's what happens is in most cases the parents come in going after they've had a diagnosis of a child that has dwarfism, a whole bunch of anxiety and uncertainty and wanting to know what path of where to go. And a lot of kids have some trouble with connecting with a society and a world that isn't built for them. I didn't have as much trouble adapting. However, if it had been there, it probably would've been easier given the situation of some others who are having some serious difficulties with this. I'm really glad the organizations are there.
Jolene MacDonald:
We're internally grateful, not internally, but eternally and internally I am, because it makes me so happy because we've met so many amazing families. That's actually how we got our diagnosis as from meeting another family because Joy was undiagnosed till she was two and a half. So, it's been such an enormous part of our family and making so many friendships. And of course, going over to Isabella, little side note, she's been helping mentor Joy as she's becoming a teenager and dealing with those struggles and having someone closer to her age, still older, but that sort of lived through it and in a different way and closer in time has been so amazing, and we're just so grateful. I'm not going to get all teary during this podcast, but Isabella, how did you get involved with LPO?
Isabella Lamanna:
So I got involved when, I want to say I was about seven or eight, maybe even younger. My parents found out about LPO and we attended a Christmas party, and I attended a couple events after that, but I didn't go for a couple years. I don't- not for any particular reason, but I started going once again after Covid and went again to the Christmas parties the picnic for Dwarfism Awareness Month little events like that. And the more that I attended these events and the more friends that I made, especially being older and more chatty- when I was younger, I was really shy. Not that it was hard for me to make friends, but I was just super, super shy and I wasn't so bubbly and chatty. Whereas now I talk to a lot more people. So going to these events are really fun and exciting for me now. And then I began to get involved more so with LPO and DAAC doing social media because during Covid I decided to have a contest competition with my friends on TikTok to see who could go viral first. And-
Jolene MacDonald:
You won, right?
Isabella Lamanna:
That that's where it all happened. I ended up going viral and out of nowhere, it was unexpected. And I used the platform. I don't really anymore that much with school and everything, really busy. But for that portion of time, I decided since I have such a big platform that I could use it towards raising awareness and acceptance about dwarfism as a positive influence. Because there are some out there that yes, they're TikTok famous, or not even just on TikTok, whatever social media platform they're famous on, but they don't give the best reputation of little people or representation. They're more of like, “oh, for show laugh at me. I'm so funny.”
So, I began to do that, and then people from LPO reached out and we started working together. I would run the TikTok accounts for them and it's really fun. I really enjoy it. I like going to the events and filming, taking on pictures. Being involved in that way is just, it's so great. It’s awesome. And then being involved with Little Kindness now is so awesome because I have five younger sisters, myself and whom all look up to me as their positive role model, great influence and I'm so appreciative of them. And I think that that's what kind of made me really want to do more for people, children with dwarfism, because I want to be also that role model to show them they're not alone. I've went through certain things and that they might be going through now, and I can be there for them. So they know they're not alone. Which is also why I got involved with Camp LPO being a camp counsellor which literally changed my life. I love camp counselling and I like being that positive influence for them. So I think it's really important.
Allan Redford:
Well, and you really have been, I want to thank you so much. You have done so much so far and made a really positive impact on the community, for sure. I mean, those times where we were working so hard at that time to get a presence, to be able to make that wedge into the community to make it that way, you enabled us to do that. I mean, we've met and have been approached by so many new people because of what you've done on social media that way. So thank you,
Isabella Lamanna:
Good!
Jolene MacDonald
[Laughing] Yeah, it's all going to be both [of us] thanking Isabella here, Cause that's amazing
Allan Redford:
but really, I, it's people. It's one thing that for myself, I do a lot of other things, but there's a lot of things in the background I do that are very administratively. There's applying for grants and doing all sorts of things and the finances and things like that. But what we need are people, Isabella out there actually doing those things and facilitating the actions. And we need more volunteers to be able to do that. And we don't always get that. Sometimes people come on and they want to be involved, but they're really not. They're just sort of there hovering around in the outside, but not really having an impact. Their opinion and their support, of course is good. However, when the rubber hits the road, we need people actually making it happen. And she's done that.
Jolene MacDonald:
Yeah. Well that's awesome. And I think both these conversations and everything that Little People of Ontario does, and we have Little People of Ontario camp which hopefully we’ll, we'll add some links to that as well, because if there's parents out there with children with dwarfism, our daughter has gone for several years now. It's an amazing, amazing opportunity. So we'll link that in the bottom of our podcast as well. All of the links to the websites and things like that. But really we want to talk about accessibility and accessibility is different for everyone. And that's how my road happened is when Joy was born and I started advocating for her physical needs, but then being a graphic designer saw the need in the digital environment. And that's why our next question is what's both of your opinions about the vital role of accessibility in our society?
I mean, we know specifically we talk about for ourselves with people with disabilities, but for everyone. And we'd love to know your opinion about the connection between a more accessible world and a more fair society just based on all of your advocacy journeys, in your own words, however you can. But I think so many things I had no idea. And most people don't until they're faced with that. As you probably both know, I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos a few years ago, which causes me mobility issues. But even with Joy, you go to the grocery store and you can't reach the debit machine, you can't do all of these things. So I mean, those are physical aspects, but for accessibility as a whole, what are both your thoughts on it? And just for everyone, I mean, we know it's generally obviously great for people with disabilities, but as a whole, what are your thoughts? And maybe Allan, I'll start with you and then we'll go over to you as [well] Bella.
Allan Redford:
Sure. Well, I think starting with accessibility it's kind of the wedge into making the world a kinder, happier more inclusive place to live. I guess, as you mentioned, not everybody they don't know it. If you're not living in that worry, you're not exposed to it. You really don't know what that's all about. Many people are often into their own world. They only see what they see. And if things are different, they're not sure how to approach it. So often people who appear to behave differently than others, like an average high average person like I said, are treated differently as well.
And often that treatment is negative, which is probably some derivative of fear or some kind of learning bias. So I think the solution starts with education. Cause once we move into understanding people who are different, we can then move on to so more of acceptance and inclusion. But in order to be able to do that, it's with, like I said, it's with education. And that's part of our little kindness project starting when they're young. And then, and it's easier to start with accessibility, something that's simple, like putting a ramp in for somebody who uses a wheelchair. And frankly, even for somebody with dwarfism, using a wheelchair as an advantage as well. Because I mean, that's one of the average height or I guess average size world for us, that seven-inch rise is a challenge when you're only on average, say four feet tall or even distances, that kind of thing. So, if we can start with talking about accessibility, we can then move on into that- things that are perhaps not quite as obvious, sorry, hidden disabilities or invisible disabilities or some things like that. Yeah, I think it's a process and it does work, but it doesn't always feel like it's working so well. But it does work. Things are getting better for people with disabilities all over the world, and not at the same rate unfortunately, but we got to keep working at it.
Jolene MacDonald:
Well, I think another example too is we talk about in a lot of the podcast is that rise or the ramp or the curb cut. It's not just for wheelchairs. It's not just for assistive devices, it's for people that have strollers. People need to think beyond the fact, oh, I'm just putting this in because of this reason. It’s easier for everyone if we think about it. And a lot of the things that have been built into even the iPhone, we use it all the time not realizing it was built for accessibility features because of the disabled community. And I think that's something, again, you hit the nail on the head with it comes down to education and starting at young. And we need to really see that integrated more into the school systems. Because even when we talk about the school boards, the difference between accessibility inclusion is still pretty black and white some days. And it's shocking, but it's still there.
Allan Redford:
Yeah, and it shouldn’t be, I think it's one path to another so that we all can treat each other the way we want to. We'd want to be able to treat treated with kindness and respect. Right?
Jolene MacDonald:
Yep. Absolutely. Bella, what are your thoughts on accessibility? I know you've had some great options being at one of the local universities, but overall, what are your thoughts growing up until now?
Isabella Lamanna:
Well, obviously there's being a person who has dwarfism, that's a physical disability. You can see that I am a lot smaller than average. And so obviously I need stools and I need certain things that for me. But then there's other disabilities that maybe people don't see. As Alan was saying, hidden disabilities. What if someone's deaf or blind? And I think that even the thing about the sidewalk, having no step there just helps everyone. Even kids, babies walking across the street, they don't have to worry about that step up. But yeah, it’s not just -everything is so obvious. And I think that's where a lot of people, there's a big stigma and a big thing surrounding it. People are really quick to assume and stuff like that. But I think that accessibility is really important in everyone's everyday life. Whether you have a unique difference or not, making things easier.
And just, for example, my friend just got a new desk and it has the function that you can raise it up or down. And this helps on days where she, she's, she has pain and whatever, she can lower it and lean on it more. And then for me, I'm like, oh my God, this is so great. Cause I can lower it all the way down. And it's basically a perfect desk for little people. And she's like, or for average high people too. It just makes my life easier too. Yeah, she'll be like, nothing, not, it's not always about you. Izzy's not always
Jolene MacDonald:
Yeah. It's surprising because even with the younger generation, you see some of this stuff. Where are they finding this information? We talk about accessibility, inclusion, and physical space. Obviously, we advocate for digital because that's what we do. Because it's more than just websites, it's all of the pieces. The matter of something very simple can be changed at the beginning, but verbiage, the proper use of language. And obviously in the little people community, we don't like the M word. People don't understand that. And they go, oh, you're just being overly sensitive. And I'm like, no, the dictionary changes every day. What's the problem? Why do you have an issue with it? There's many words we don't continue to use anymore. People need to understand that maybe it doesn't bother them, but it's not about them.
None of the changes that we see in language is about us personally, unless we're affected by it, I think. But I see it even with the younger kids where they're using, somebody said something to my daughter not long ago, and I'm like, are they too young to even know that? So where are they finding that from? Is it from media? Is it from bias in the home? Is it from a family member? How do we help change those things as well? Because that's part of accessibility in my opinion. That's access to feeling comfortable in your environment. All of those things.
Allan Redford:
That's inclusion.
Jolene MacDonald:
[A] hundred percent
Allan Redford:
And those words, those words and there are lots of them for various different people are associated with trauma. We shouldn't be using them.
Jolene MacDonald:
Hopefully we'll keep changing people's perspectives on those things. And I know I'll never give up that bite, but I wanted to just mention that as well, because people forget that we focus so much on accessibility and in the media as it's happened, it's always been about physical, but it's the inclusion part and it's the language, it's the proper representation of imagery. The photography out there doesn't exist. We're trying to change that as well. But I guess that sort of leads us into our next question too, is that what is each of your advice for people who don't know much about accessibility and inclusion or about organizations like yours and want to start their awareness journey, what would you say to them?
Allan Redford:
I don't know. Who wants to start with this one here?
Jolene MacDonald:
You can start, Allan.
Allan Redford:
Well, I think you started off, I think it starts off with education, but while people learn, everybody learns in a different way. There are sources of information out there in different forms than ever before. So I think it's a terrific, actually, just this fabulous podcast that you're doing now is just one example as you mentioned. And I think which way you learn best, you need to follow that path. I mean, there are short articles, long articles, videos, slideshows, in-person, presentations live recorded and the things that we do in the schools. And I think starting early is still the key to all this for us. And what I've always encouraged when I've given a presentation is- and it doesn't matter what age the audience is, to empower them to be ambassadors for acceptance and inclusion spread the word. We can all work together to make this place a kinder, happier place.
Jolene MacDonald:
Yeah, I think so often- just before Isabella goes- is that people always are feeling threatened by the law because of the Accessibility for Ontario with Disability. Now we have the Accessible Canada Act. Every country has their own, every province, every state, pretty much for all over the world. But we always try and we we're trying to gear people away from being afraid of the law because it's just the right thing to do. Because at every point in our lives, look at me six years ago, never thought I'd end up using a cane and not being able to work full-time and do what I wanted to do. It's going to happen to every single one of us based on age, gender, race, doesn't matter. You know, could be in a car accident, it could be temporary, you could be born with it. It's going to happen. So can we lead people more to, like you said, it's kindness, its empathy, it's the right thing to do, it's good for business, it's good for society. So, Isabella, what are your thoughts on where people can start in understanding?
Isabella Lamanna:
Again, education. I think that, you know, you may think you know everything, but you actually don't. There’s always something to learn. You learn something new every day. You know, could be going to the park and see someone or something that you've never seen before. And I think it's just being open-minded too, and accepting. Oh, for example, if someone sees me, a little person for the first time, they could either look at me, take it in, be like, “Oh, I've never seen a little person before. She's quite small, but she's same as everyone else.” Or you could sit there, stare, make yourself look- make me uncomfortable, make everything uncomfortable, and- just be respectful. Just do the right thing. And that comes with learning, being educated.
Children, obviously, they'll be more verbal and they'll say things or stare, and that's because they're just young and they don't [aren’t] exposed maybe or they don't, you know, can't really, they're little. But I just think that it's, it's so important to be open-minded and be accepting of everyone no matter what. As you said, gender, race, ability, disability, whatever. Because everyone is going through something, everything. No one's life is going to be perfect. There's always going to be something that's up with them. And you might not know. People put on a great face outside or on social media, what they want people to see, what they want people to know. But in reality, everyone's going through something. Everyone has their own battles that they're overcoming every day. And I'm in psychology now, so there's a lot of things that I'm just have opened my eyes. For example, if you're driving and someone cuts you off, you could just assume that they're rude. “That's such a rude person that for cutting me off,” but maybe they're actually a really nice person and they're having just a really bad day. Have to put things into perspective. You can't just assume everything all the time and come to conclusions so fast. So I think it's just a combination of all that. Yeah!
Jolene MacDonald:
I think we all wish that everyone could lead with kindness. I know that has always been my hope. We talk about it a lot. It gets tiring when you're advocating because you want to see change and you want to see that fairness. But we have a lot of people [saying], “Oh, I don't have customers with disabilities.” Well you have no idea. They don't know. Or “I don't have to comply with the law.” You know, you get tired of trying to convince people of those things. But you want to then show them instead of what it could be like if things were easier for everybody. And to show that sometimes it's very small changes that make a huge difference for so many people. And it's great to, I think that's what we want with this podcast, is to share as many different views from as many different communities as possible about what it's like to have accessibility inclusion integrated into the core of everything. And hopefully we'll see the change in education as well. But thanks for your thoughts on, those are awesome.
So the last question we have, and I know some of these things because obviously I'm involved in the community, but I'd love to hear from you both. What is your advice for people with disabilities that are affected by some sort of disability or illness, like their families, about their journey to have a better personal life and make our society better? How can we all collectively be open and active in that process? I think it, it's a multi-layered question really. But I think in general, what's your advice for people with disabilities that- especially in our own communities. So what can we do?
Allan Redford:
Okay, sure. If they're looking for a better life I think one thing we has been, haven't touched quite on this, but if you are living with a disability or disabilities because of often there are multiple factors involved. I mean certainly with dwarfism there are over 400 types of dwarfism, each one of them having their own challenges. And it's not all about height, which is the most obvious thing, but, is to get involved with other groups, other like-minded groups. And I think you'll probably learn that life is getting better. So part of that is to be not discouraged by what's happening or some of the obstacles that come up.
And people with disabilities are often some of the most ingenious people trying to figure out ways to live in a world that isn't built for them. So that's the first thing. So know that you can in sight change and you have the ability to in some way to make it happen. But we don't always have the capacity ourselves individually for various different reasons, whether that be societal acceptance or our own capacity. But if you're within a group, you can all collectively work on it and share ideas and move forward. It's easier to move that mountain when you're doing it together. And don't get discouraged that things don't always go as quickly as we'd like. We mentioned that. But it does happen. And if we keep pounding away at it, we will get there. I don't know what we're going to do when- I'll joke a bit, -but when it all happens, but I guess we'll just live our lives like everybody else. Wouldn't that be fabulous?
Jolene MacDonald:
Wouldn't that be fabulous? Yeah, definitely. What about you Isabella, oh-
Allan Redford:
Yeah. I mean, we're often struggling to live our lives in a way that everyone else lives there, so why the average person? But on top of that, we're struggling with the barriers and then we're struggling with overcoming those barriers, but it doesn't work when we work together.
Jolene MacDonald:
Absolutely. What are your thoughts, Isabella?
Isabella Lamanna:
For sure, I get involved with any group clubs at schools for students anything really more those
And they're willing to help me make that change to have more acceptance and inclusion. And by doing little things around, if they notice me doing something and it takes me quite a bit of time and they do one simple thing that could just make me 10 minutes faster, why not do it? And that's not something I have to pull teeth to do. It's really nice to see them do something as simple as, like, yesterday I was cooking meal prep and I'm using a lot of ingredients and a lot of different little tiny spices and everything and they're all over the counter. And then I have this step stool, two steps, and I have to go up, grab all the stuff, come down, move the stool because my cover is right below the stool, open the cover, put everything in, and then get the stool, put it back, grab more stuff.
It's tiring. It takes so long to do something so simple sometimes. And yesterday, as I was saying my friend, she saw me going to put something in the fridge, one of my ingredients. And when I came back, I saw my stools put away and I was like, why'd you put my stool away? I have so many, so more things to do. But then I looked up and she had all the ingredients lined up at the edge of the counter, right at the edge of the counter so I could just simply take it off one by one, put it all away. I didn't need the stool to
Isabella Lamanna:
Growing representation online and stuff for people with disabilities whatever it may be. There's definitely a growing presence, which is great. More exposure and stuff like that. More education, great social media can be a great thing if you're using it in the right way, that that's
Jolene MacDonald:
Great addition if you're using it the right way. Yes,
Isabella Lamanna:
Sometimes that can be one of the negative effects of social media's not always used positively. And that's something I've seen, especially as a teenager growing up with it. And I'm sure your daughter has too.
Jolene MacDonald:
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I don't know if there's anything else we'd both like to add, but those are all of our questions for today's podcast. And I just wanted to thank you both so much for being here and taking the time out of your busy schedules and students and volunteering and running so many things, Alan. But I would love for you to add anything else. If there's anything else you'd like to talk about your organizations or your projects and we'll make sure to add that in as well. Or, any other words of advice for our viewers and listeners.
Allan Redford:
Sure. There's something spoke about the Dwarf Athletic Association in Canada. Health and wellbeing not only just physical fitness, but also mental fitness. It's a terrific opportunity for people of short stature to get together, to be able to compete eye to eye. And it touches on, like I said, all the points of health and wellbeing. And we are having, as this is 2023, in the summer coming up because this is the beginning of 2023, we have the World Dwarf Games that are happening in Cologne, Germany this summer. And I know people that have been there before to the games. The last games were in Guelph, Ontario in 2017 and prior, they're about every four years. There was this covid gap that that pushed it off a bit that people have been there before and it's for all abilities. I mean, they can compete eye to eye, the challenges are amongst each other, not the environment. And it's a far more equitable and accessible space. And like I said, I started keep coming back to this, but the kids and adults that have experienced this are so charged afterwards realizing, oh my goodness, this is just uplifting. It's empowering, it's realizing what can be.
Jolene MacDonald:
Yeah.
Allan Redford:
Because often many of us don't know what it might even be like we perhaps see it, hear it or some sensory input of what it's like to be completely accepted in a societal position. And that's very encouraging that really it, it's just fan- fantastic. This is the best thing ever.
Jolene MacDonald:
And to want to participate in different sports safely because when you are short stature, I mean, Joy has just asked me to try out basketball and volleyball and sure, but she's more than half the size of her peers now. So as a parent, and as the medical advisors would say, maybe not a great idea because what many people don't realize is that when you have, there's lots of different types of dwarfism. It's not just that you're shorts and your bone- you're short and your bones are little, physiologically, you can go be paralyzed in Joy’s condition. She could have issues with their neck. And if you hit your head like the whiplash, there's many different factors that people can't see. And as a parent, I want my child to experience all these things. So I think the world dwarf games is fantastic. As you guys both know Joy’s in our artistic swimming, which was formally called Synchronized swimming, it's called Adapted. So, she's done that for about five or six years. And thanks to another family we met through LPO, that's how we got involved. And now another family from LPO who is her duet partner, and it is empowering because she has something that she's a part of. And this year she's become part of a mixed ability team. And it has been a shining light for her because even though she was doing the sport, she still wasn't fully integrated. They're still in their own categories and I can't say enough about having the opportunity to have access to this. So, if there's lots of other parents out there contact Alan, talk about the World Dwarf Games, we haven't obviously participated yet, but because of being in synchro and artistic swimming, but such an awesome opportunity. So we'll make sure to get that link as well so people can check it out. And I know that we're always looking for donations. I often try and do that for my birthday and other things. So not-for-profits need this, so please consider donating to any of these organizations would be much appreciated.
Allan Redford:
We're all registered charities, so there's a tax receipt that goes along with that. So.
Jolene MacDonald:
Yeah, obviously I'm promoting this because it's near and dear to my heart, but
Isabella Lamanna:
Yeah! That would be really great. Yeah, it's really awesome to see not only the smiles on the faces of the students who may have dwarfism but also the parents in the audience of those children and also the teachers staff, like the peers. Everyone's just like, you literally see their eyes opening, they're learning so much and it's such a great feeling to be that person that can just teach these kids one step at a time so that they're more aware. And they’re, you know?
Allan Redford:
It's not just schools. We've also, Bella and I have actually given a presentation to a diversity equity and inclusion programme for police departments and opening it up to the community. And because we represent perhaps a community that isn't always represented within that DEI group, we opened a lot of their eyes there. There was some really great input from them about us as it was-
Isabella Lamanna:
Lots of questions and definitely a lot of support came out of that.
Jolene MacDonald:
Yeah, I think it's so much more, people forget that joy continuously the buttons to get into doors. It's easier than trying to open a door. People think that things are just for wheelchairs. There's so many more things. I'm
Isabella Lamanna:
Thank you for having us
Jolene MacDonald:
Can't wait to share this one.
Allan Redford:
Well thank you for putting this all together. I mean, your advocacy is fantastic. We're really, really pleased and thank you for allowing us to be here and continuing to do things. So yeah, kudos,
Jolene MacDonald:
It’s become my whole life and I thought I may as well make it my career in some way too. But like you said, everybody's perfect. We are all learning every day. We don't even like to call ourselves experts here because we're still learning and everybody's experiences and disabilities are different than the next. You can't really can them. So, we're all, it's progress over perfection and by getting our voices out there all collectively, the more we hope to see the journey changes. So thanks again, both of you for coming on and we'll make sure to put all your information with our podcast and we can share it out. And hopefully we'll see some positive changes.
Isabella Lamanna:
Amazing!
[End of the interview]
Why Access Matters: A podcast by Accessibrand (thoughts and talks about accessibility)
In this episode, we heard an inspiring interview and have learned a lot from Allan and Isabella about their personal experiences with dwarfism and their involvement in Little People of Ontario & Canada. It’s heartwarming to hear about the positive impact that the organization has had on their lives and the lives of others. The program Isabella talked about, where she and other little people visit schools to discuss their condition, is a great initiative to help raise awareness and promote acceptance among children. We hope this podcast has given our audience a better understanding of dwarfism and the importance of access and inclusivity. Please consider checking their website, donating to them, getting involved in their programs and activities and informing others who might benefit from their unique services. For your convenience, we shared the link to their website in the description of this episode.
[Music]
Allan and Isabella shared their perspectives on how to make society more inclusive for those with disabilities, and now, as usual, we have some questions and prompts to reflect on:
We should always ask ourselves: what small changes can we all make in our daily lives to increase accessibility and inclusion? How can we create a more welcoming environment for everyone? Let’s keep the conversation going and work towards a more accessible and inclusive world.
[Music]
Well, we’ve reached the end!
I am Jolene MacDonald from Accessibrand. Thanks for your patience and time in listening to me, my colleagues and our special guests, Allan Redford and Isabella Lamanna, in the third episode of the 2nd season of “Why Access Matters” and the 8th episode to date.
The next episode will follow every last Friday of each month, but until then, please:
Please consider checking out our website if you need any accessibility services and would like to utilize the valuable lived experience and expertise of persons with disabilities. You can visit our website at: www.accessibrand.com.
Why Access Matters: A podcast by Accessibrand (thoughts and talks about accessibility)