RESILIENT REAL LIFE
Meryl Williams, 27, from East Lothian, Scotland, is using her platform to show the world that being different doesn’t have to stop you from achieving your dreams!
Pulling on my favourite red jumpsuit, it was the most treasured item in my wardrobe.
If Ihad aspecial occasion coming up and I didn’t know what to wear, I know Icould throw it on and be totally fine.
For me, fashion was always a way of expressing myself.
And thanks to my seamstress Grandma Cherryl, now 83, she enabled me to feel like Iwas never excluded.
By altering my clothes, making the arms and legs shorter, it meant that Icould strut my stuff with all my friends, wearing the exact same trends as them.
Which gave me the confidence that Ineeded to stay head strong and resilient against the horrible negativity I would face when Iheaded out in public.
Born with achondroplasia, a rare form of dwarfism, it meant that both my arms and legs were significantly shorter than the average person.
And due to that, ever since I was first able to notice that other people were aware of me, I’d get some sort of reaction.
People would stop and stare, snigger and even whisper derogatory terms just loud enough for me to hear.
From making me the butt of their jokes, mistaking me for a toddler or laughing about the pantomime, I’d heard it all.
Thankfully, I didn’t have the same experience in school – there were no bullies in sight.
Strangely enough, it was just when Iheaded outside, going to the shops or running errands with my mum Heather.
Iunderstood from ayoung age that it wasn’t every day that the public would see an individual with dwarfism, but it did make me question why I had such discrimination.
However, immigrating to the UK from South Africa with Mum when Iwas six, resilience was something that Iknew all too well.
She’d taught me that.
Adjusting and adapting to a new life, making new friends and showing a fighting effort, there was no way I was backing down.
And just because Iwas little smaller than everyone else, measuring in at 4ft 2in, it didn’t change who Iwas inside.
Plus, it wasn’t like Icould change my height –I couldn’t just wake up and suddenly be 5ft 5in.
Only, as Ientered adulthood, there was something about myself that Idid want to change.
‘I didn’t realise that this was such a big insecurity for you. I don’t think that you need it done –this is the way that you were born,’ Mum admitted.
You see, even though I loved getting glam and posing for the camera, looking back at the photos left me with afamiliar sinking feeling.
My forehead just looks so big, I thought.
Always begging for afull fringe as achild, in an attempt to hide my forehead, I couldn’t he
