Stella Young

I am not a snowflake. I am not a sweet, infantilising symbol of fragility and life. I am a strong, fierce, flawed adult woman. I plan to remain that way, in life and in death.

I have a condition that is included among the 200 or so classified as Dwarfism.

For me, and for many other people with disabilities, our status as disabled people is one of which we are fiercely proud.

I've always been very determined, ever since I was a little girl, to make my way.

So, for example, if a child is labeled as having a learning disability, it has very concrete consequences for the kinds of services and potentially accommodations that child will get.

I am convinced that, except in a few extraordinary cases, one form or another of an unhappy childhood is essential to the formation of exceptional gifts.