District Director Candidate Statement

My name is Michael Mallinson, and I would like to be the next District Director for LPA’s District 12. 


As a family, we owe so much to the LPA. Not only have we received immeasurable support for my daughter Caitlin, both medical and social, but we have gained an amazing family that we might never have known. Some of our closest friends, including Caitlin’s godparents, have been made directly thanks to the LPA. Now, I would like to give some of myself back.


Our involvement with the LPA began shortly after my daughter was diagnosed with achondroplasia at 3 months of age. After attending a number of events over the first year or two of her life, Cherylle and I became the parent coordinators for the Los Angeles chapter. It was wonderful to be able to contribute! Meeting new parents and helping them understand that everything is perfectly okay is really an amazing feeling. Another big pleasure was the opportunity to plan events, both for parents and chapter-wide, leading up to acting as chairs for the 2010 Spring Regional Conference in our hometown of Valencia, CA, and then as AV Coordinators for the 2011 National Conference in Anaheim. What an experience!


If you choose me as the next District Director, I would like to focus the next three years on three main things; 1) continuing to increase local chapter enrollment and participation; 2) starting an outreach program to pediatricians and GP doctors throughout the district to increase dwarfism awareness and referrals to the LPA and our associated medical professionals who can provide the support new parents need; and 3) improving the district’s role in coordinating the regional conferences, helping take some of the burden of fundraising and site selection off of the shoulders of the chapters.


I’ve heard so many stories from the people I’ve met over the last four years, both LP member and AH parent, about how the LPA has changed their lives for the better. With your help, I would like to contribute to an organization that will be there, the same way, for our children and their friends, when they are ready to take the lead.

Rude words, political correctness, midgets and douchebags

One thing that always drives me insane is when you tell someone that a certain word is hurtful or offensive, and they tell you that you're just being "sensitive", that they're just having "fun" and that they don't believe in being "politically correct" and you should just "have a sense of humor" about it. Funny - I'd like most of those guys to try walking through Inglewood or Compton calling everybody "nigger" and ask THEM to just have a sense of humor about it.


It's odd - I was raised to believe that people with good moral values were supposed to respect others and treat them kindly. Remember the Golden Rule? Treat others as you would have them treat you? No, neither does anybody else.


I was reading an NPR review for the novel "Big Girl, Small" today, about a 16 year old girl with dwarfism, coming of age at a Performing Arts high school, dealing with being a little person in a world that loves to mock differences. The excerpt that NPR published featured a quote that I thought was very apropos:


"Maybe someday they'll think disproportionate dwarfis a rude expression and they'll come up with a nicer way to put it. I think most people know now that Hottentot is considered a rude word. Maybe not, though. Most people are stupid as hell when it comes to things like which words are rude. And a lot of people, even once they find out which words hurt people, still like to use them. They think it's smarmy and "PC" to have to say things kindly, or that it's too much pressure not to be able to punish freaks with words like freak."

Caitlin's first, long awaited haircut!

Somehow Caitlin managed to get to be three and a half before we finally felt it necessary to get her hair cut.I'm sure it's at least partly just an attempt to deny that she's growing up, but it's even more a result of the fact that she looked so darned cute with her hair hanging down to her butt. Sucked for daddy trying to get her ready in the mornings tho, since I'm not really adequately trained to handle pretty little girl pigtails :-)

Anyway, we decided that we should finally get it cut before the holidays, and since both parents were off work and could be there it was the perfect time. Caitlin was really all for this plan until she actually got in the chair to have her hair cut, but when we explained that it would make it easier for other people to see her earrings she was back on board.

The place, Cool Cuts for Kids in Bakersfield, was a load of fun fire both kids, with loads of movies and video games for them to play. Caitlin even tried playing a snowboarding game while she was waiting, and was almost doing better than her mommy at it :-)

One of the nice things about waiting so long for her first cut, tho, was that there was plenty of hair to save from it for the baby book!

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