Little mum spreads the word

Jacqui Barrett is used to being asked if she’s on first name terms with Frodo.

And she’s used to the stares.

But for some years now, Jacqui has been visiting schools talking about little people. And she is not referring to the children.

Jacqui has a type of dwarfism called Psuedochondroplasia which, she admits, is very difficult to articulate after a wine or two.

When Jacqui’s eight-year-old son started at a new school in Cambridge he was bombarded with questions about his “dwarf” mum so Jacqui went in to speak to the children herself.

Jacqui felt it was really important to share information throughout the school and make her differences more normal for her own child and the people around him.

She first spoke in this way two years ago when her son started at an Auckland school. The response was so great that she approached other schools with an offer to give a seminar. She was surprised to be asked how much it would cost. “I had to tell them it would be free – from the heart!”

Jacqui said the children were very receptive and excited. “There are not a lot of people like me so the kids think it’s unique and exciting and love to ask questions. They like having the opportunity to find out about little people.”

Do you know Frodo?

Questions from children have been varied:  How did you carry your son when he was a baby? How do you get on the bed? Can you run? Are you a fairy? Do you know Frodo?

Jacqui said the children are always able to give her a giggle.

With a strong motivation to teach children about diversity, Jacqui said she encourages them to ask questions, but teaches them how to ask correctly.

She teaches children that the difference some people have is what makes them unique. Sometimes after hearing Jacqui speak, the children realise that they have a difference themselves and she said it helps them see it is nothing to be worried about.

“It is so beneficial to be able to meet people with differences and see it’s not the physical make up that matters but attitude.”

Jacqui admits to being very open and confident about being a little person. “I think it is part of my calling – to speak. It also makes me happy and reminds me of what’s important. Every time I speak it installs it all over again; the way I see the world is an option for everybody. I want to be positive and help teach people.”

Jacqui has a natural ability to encourage others to be positive but she gives the credit to her own mother. “I have the best mum in the world and that has helped me a lot.”

Give her one Aspirin a day…

Jacqui’s mother did not notice her daughter’s differences until Jacqui was about one-year-old. “I had a normal torso but slow growing arms and misshaped legs. We lived in a small country town in the King Country. Mum thought I was dying. She took me to a doctor who said ‘Give her one Aspirin a day and hope for the best.’”

Jacqui’s mother moved the family to Auckland and when Jacqui was three-years-old they met a doctor who told her mum Jacqui wasn’t dying. “He said ‘Far from it’; I was a healthy little girl who was just a little person. He said that I may have a few challenges but I would always be beautiful and always have a great smile.”

When her mother learnt Jacqui was not dying her attitude changed and she encouraged her daughter to deal with it. Jacqui used to ask her mother why people were staring at her, “Mum would say ‘because you’re beautiful’ – I soon got too old for that and asked why they were laughing at me, Mum said it was because it was a beauty they didn’t understand yet.”

Jacqui said she grew up with the thought that you can either jump on the train or hide in the bushes.

“Anyone with a difference can overcome it with the right attitude.”

“My role on this earth is to teach and educate people. I love walking into a community. If everyone stares then I imagine that I’m someone famous! Being little is something that’s exciting.”

Jacqui runs her own business, Phonology, a phone based sales development company where she offers coaching and phone etiquette training. She says she loves empowering sales people with communication tools.

Speaking with Jacqui Barrett is a positive experience in itself.