At 4-foot-5, she stands tall: Woman with type of dwarfism uses it to teach kids tolerance

Oct 21, 2008 (The Hutchinson News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- UVAL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Ruthie Stevens is used to being stared at.

She hears the whispers at the grocery store and often watches parents scorn their children for asking, "Why is she so short?"

But the sharp 55-year-old Hutchinson resident encourages the opposite.

"For me, personally, I want you to come and talk to me and ask me questions," she told a group of wide-eyed second-graders at Union Valley Elementary School, 2501 E. 30th Ave., on Monday.

Stevens was diagnosed at 4 with achronplasia, a form of dwarfism that stopped her limbs from reaching their full growth potential. She also has two children, Jeana and Jack Clark, who were diagnosed with achondroplasia.

When her children were students at Faris Elementary School, Stevens remembered a day when Jeana came home crying because she had been bullied at school.

"I told her, 'Turn around and dust yourself off and just keep going,' " Stevens said. "Kids make fun of each other a lot because they don't understand."

After that day, Stevens decided to start visiting classrooms as a guest speaker. She has been visiting Union Valley Elementary School for the past 20 years, encouraging the children to accept those who are different.

On Monday, Stevens explained to Union Valley second-graders that even though she is 4 feet, 5 inches tall, her father was 6 feet tall and her mother was 5-foot-6.

She wore leg braces as a child, has endured four back surgeries, and now uses a cane to walk, or "I will kiss the concrete like I did yesterday," Stevens said, pointing to a bandage on her forehead.

Stevens also supported her son, Jack, who underwent a painful Ilizarov surgery, which lengthened his limb bones by several inches.

"Do you cook your own food?" asked Garrett Starks, a second-grader in Susan Brown's class.

"Yes, I have a stool everywhere in my house," Stevens said.

Besides reaching high shelves, other obstacles she faces include finding clothes that fit.

"I have to cut 6 to 8 inches off a regular pair of jeans," Stevens told the children, noting that her lower body is disproportionate to her upper body. "I sew a lot and make my own clothes."

She also uses barbecue tongs to do the laundry: "If I don't, I can't reach them."

And driving is no problem, thanks to higher gas and brake pedals that her feet can reach.

"There's nothing I can do about being 4-foot-5, but the one thing I can do is how I treat other people," Stevens said. "We're all different, and that's wonderful, because that's what makes up our world."

She told the class that the phrase "Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you" is one of "the biggest lies."

"Words do hurt," she said. "There may not be an ouchie on the outside, but there's an ouchie on the inside.

"If you hear one of your friends say something bad about someone else, tell them that's not cool."

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