Please Stop Taking My Photo Just Because of My Dwarfism
I remember the first time it happened. I was walking into my high school about eight years ago, and I heard a few kids across the lawn say, “Look, there’s a dwarf. Take a picture!”
This was when flip phones were the rage. They were a little less conspicuous than iPhones, but a bright flash made the photo official.
I remember walking away confused, wondering why they would want my picture. I wasn’t famous!
As the years progressed, cellphones became more popular, and society became obsessed with taking photos with them. We take photos of everything: our outfits, our shoes and even our food before we eat it! I am not shaming this behavior because if you have ever seen my Instagram, you know I do the exact same thing!
As this desire to capture every moment of the day via of our iPhone has increased, so has the instances of strangers taking photos of me in public.
When I’m in my sweats running to the grab a few things in the grocery store.
Snap.
Out on a date with my husband, Andrew.
Snap.
Pumping gas.
Snap.
All of these mundane things I do every day have become a spectacle that needs to be captured by strangers simply because I was born with a physical disability.
On my blog, Kate + Braun, I’ve written about a mom of who hushed her son after he saw me in Target. I’ve also written about a friend of mine who used the M-word to describe me. In both of those cases, there was an opportunity for me to use my voice and educate people.
But it’s different when complete strangers take my photo. I often try to approach them in order to tell them how it felt. Most people end up getting angry with me for accusing them of such a thing or walk away while completely ignoring me.
Honestly, it’s the most painful form of bullying I have encountered because it takes my voice away. The photo goes to who knows where, and I’m subject to ridicule and mockery without the ability to educate and inform people and lessen ignorance.
I’m telling my story not for pity but to ask you on behalf of the people on my side of the camera: Would you be my voice?
Will you stand up when you see a friend or a stranger taking a photo of someone in public and tell them it’s not OK?
If you get a photo from a friend of a person with a disability, will you tell them to stop and not pass it on?
I have so much hope for the next generation and can’t wait to see how technology can empower, connect and encourage people with disabilities, but I need your help! Let’s use these tools to lift each other up instead of tear another down!
Follow this journey on Kate + Braun.
Lead photo source: Thinkstock Images
Kate Braun is the author of kateandbraun.com. She’s out to love others passionately and educate them gracefully about living with dwarfism. She and her husband are newlyweds living in Charlotte, North Carolina, with their new puppy, Louie. Kate shares the beauty in the joys and struggles of living with a disability.
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