Girl Talk: Disability And Accessibility - Part 2

Here it is, part II of my insightful and impactful conversation with Danielle Frank. We discuss why she took on a leadership role in LPA, what the organization means to us, our hopes for the future of the little people community and so much more. Again, I cannot thank Danielle enough for taking the time to speak with me and being a big sister/mentor. She is definitely someone I have always looked up to.

JILLIAN: What motivated you to become as involved in LPA as you are? Was there a specific moment or person that inspired you? 

DANIELLE: About 8 years ago I was in grad school. I wasn’t working at the time and I wanted more of a purpose during that down time. I was actually in the hospital, doing a physical rehab program, when my mom brought me the LPA Today magazine.I saw there was a posting about becoming the National Teen Coordinator and I thought, “My career in life is going to be working with young adults, I want to get back into LPA, and this could be a really cool opportunity.” So, I applied and became national teen coordinator and then went on to become the young adult coordinator. I later served on our chapter’s and the national board of directors. LPA has given me lifelong friendships and access to doctors and resources and the ability to travel. It is definitely an organization that is dear to my heart and I wanted to give back in some way. 

One of my favorite things that I do with LPA, especially at the chapter level, is organizing regionals and other events. Growing up, I always wanted to be a wedding planner. I thought it was so cool, not the getting married part, but the planning of the party itself. I knew with my physical challenges that it was going to be a hard career for me. So, volunteering with LPA and giving back, allowing me to organize regionals and serve on national conference committees, allowed me to tap into that creative side of planning and running events. It allowed me to do it at my own pace, give back to LPA and still maintain a job outside of the organization. It was the perfect combination of giving back and tapping into this passion that I’ve always wanted to pursue. 

JILLIAN: What accomplishment(s) are you most proud of while serving in your various positions? 

DANIELLE: I’ve definitely had some big accomplishments such as co-chairing three regionals, winning the Young Adult Distinguished Service Award for my work as teen coordinator, leading school assemblies about dwarfism awareness. Although, and it may seem cliche to say, it truly comes down to the smaller, behind-the-scenes moments that you necessarily don’t see. For example, I was chapter president when one of our younger chapter members was born and his father wrote to me saying he was a new parent, he and his wife had no prior knowledge of dwarfism, and they were scared of the unknown. I got that email, which I still have saved to this day, and I was able to comfort him and say, “Hey, you are about to join this great organization. Your son is going to do incredible things. This is a celebration, not a death sentence as a doctor may make it seem.” Having connected with families like that, or connecting with members and making a difference...you don’t realize how a phone call or an email welcoming someone into our community makes such a difference. Their son is now my unofficial godson. I love him so much and it has been amazing to watch him grow up. Those moments are what I’m definitely most proud of. That people would trust and come to me with their most difficult and tough times...that to me is incredible. In my opinion it beats planning any regional or writing any article for a magazine.

JILLIAN: I love that. I know my mom was told by doctors to join LPA shortly after I was born. How was LPA introduced to you? 

DANIELLE: Growing up, we went to local chapter events. I remember growing up with you and when your mom was chapter president. LPA was more of a thing on the side, something that was always there, and a place I could go to. I was really involved with my average-height life and I wasn’t fully accepting my little person identity. I remember when I would go to conferences my friends would ask where I was going and I would say, “Oh, I’m just going to visit these people in insert conference city here.” 

When I was in high school Little People Big World started airing and gained popularity on TLC. I would see the Roloffs at conferences and say to myself “I talk about going to national conferences. I want to be confident like that.” I stopped making up stories about why I was going to Milwaulkee, Wisconsin or Detroit, Michigan. I would say, “I’m going for Little People of America. I’m a proud member of this organization.” Again, it wasn’t that my parents didn’t want me to get involved on the national level, I was just so engrossed in my average-height life as a kid. It was Little People Big World that made me feel more confident in myself and say, “Okay, I’m now going to be more involved, go to nationals, and make this organization a bigger part of my life.”

JILLIAN: That’s amazing. Like I said before, my mom went after the doctors told her to, and she actually did not take me to her first regional. She went to ask questions. Growing up, we went to regionals and chapter events. I did not go to my first national until the first Orlando one when I was ten, and then I didn’t go again until Detroit three years later because I simply did not want to go. When I went back I got mad at myself, asking “Why did I not want to go to these events?”. To me, it’s the community. 

DANIELLE: Exactly, and everyone is different. I met people who joined LPA in their late twenties. I met people who were kids when they joined, took a break, and then came back or vice versa. I sometimes think that people see LPA as very singular. They’ll say they want to go to find a husband or to play sports in DAAA or to make best friends, and that’s great. But, what happens is that you don’t think about how you could impact the community or how you could give back to the organization. Whether that is talking to an elderly couple and being a friendly face or volunteering for a few hours or being a mentor. We ask ourselves “What can I get out of it?” and, when we finally find it, we stop going to events. I wish we asked ourselves more “What is our role in the entire community? How can I also give back?” Does that make sense?

JILLIAN: It does.

Tying into that, obviously the future is looking very different than I think anyone thought it would. There hasn’t been any in-person LPA events for nearly a year. As things start to open up and we can all be together again, what are your hopes and aspirations for LPA and the little community? 

DANIELLE: Obviously COVID-19 brought a lot of sadness to folks, whether people lost their jobs, missed out on milestones, could not travel, etc. I think that, with LPA having VirtuaLPAlooza and having a lot more events through Zoom, people who were not able to go to conferences were now able to participate. I always say it is a privilege to go to the national conferences. Some people do not have the financial means to travel, cannot go due to physical barriers or they have obligations at home. When we go to these conferences, we are really only meeting and interacting with a small (no pun intended) portion of what our community really is because there are thousands and thousands of members who will never go to a national in their lifetime. 

I’m not saying that virtual events should replace in-person events. I think in-person events are great and you can never beat that experience. But, at the same time, I hope there are more virtual opportunities for people to connect. Something I did, along with my friend Stephani, was start an LP Bible Study through Zoom that is outside of LPA. It has been nice getting to connect with LPs across the country. I hope that LPA still holds virtual events throughout the year. 

In addition, there are members in the African American community who are feeling really hurt and angered by things that have happened in our organization against minorities. I know that LPA is working on it and that work needs to continue so that truly every member feels included and empowered at conferences. With accessibility, unfortunately I have been to LPA events that are not accessible. I know that there are chapters who meet in people’s homes and not every home is accessible. I hope that LPA becomes more strict and says that if we are going to have events, they must be accessible to everyone. 

I love going to national conferences because it is a great opportunity to explore a new city. I hope to visit every state and LPA has helped me check off a bunch. I mean, why else would I go to Wisconsin? I love the travel opportunities that national conferences provide. However, I think that it is hard to go to national conferences. You’ll meet people that you will probably only see once a year. I think that regional and chapter events are just as important. They allow us to see people that are only a drive away on a more frequent basis. There needs to be greater focus on local events. I would love to make connections with people more than once a year, especially because going to a national conference is not possible for everyone. I just hope for more local and virtual opportunities in the future for us to get together.

JILLIAN: I would really want to see that happen as well.

Who inspires you? They could be in or out of LPA. 

DANIELLE: Honestly, people like you Jillian who start these blogs and use their presence on social media to educate others. I think that people who use their privilege and their platforms to educate others is inspiring. And it’s ironic because...you’ve heard of “inspiration porn” against people with disabilities? 

JILLIAN: Yes. 

DANIELLE: Whenever I hear “inspire” I cringe. But, I think there is a place for the word inspire and there are people who inspire me.

JILLIAN: Allow me to rephrase: who do you look up to? Pun not intended.

DANIELLE: I can think of a couple people. First, my best friend Jessica Markbreiter. She is a little person in the athletic training field. Most people, when you think of athletics, think of someone who is tall, big, muscular. She is in a field where she has faced so much discrimination. She’s had professors tell her not to pursue athletic training as a career and, while in college, to leave the program. She didn’t. I’m not inspired because she’s a little person actually doing it. What inspires me is that people have told her no and she responded by saying, “Screw them, I’m still going to do it and I’m going to reach my goals.” That’s what inspires me, not her being an athletic trainer because I know she can do it. It’s the fact that she has entered a field where there is every imaginable barrier for a little person and she is succeeding. 

Second is my friend Sarah Hunt has SED (Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia). She and I relate to each other because we have similar physical challenges. She has inspired me to use my voice and speak up, to learn about other types of dwarfism and disabilities. I think when you have a disability and you live in a bubble, you forget about the other needs of other people with different disabilities. Sarah has made me think about mental health disabilities, intellectual disabilities. It is people like that: who are bold and want to educate me and help me see the world through a different lens, and inspiring me to forget the naysayers. To put it succinctly, I look up to women with disabilities.

JILLIAN: I love that answer, and was also not expecting that answer. So, thank you. 

DANIELLE: You’re welcome.

JILLIAN: Looking ahead to a post-COVID world, what are the changes you want to see and how can we work to make them a reality? 

DANIELLE: In the world in general, people with disabilities, or little people specifically? 

JILLIAN: People with disabilities and little people. 

DANIELLE: Interesting. So, before COVID happened, I was actually in the process of requesting to work from home two days a week. I thought it was a reasonable accommodation for the job that I currently have. I received some pushback, not because they doubted me, but they did not want to go through the HR process. Then COVID hit and now everyone is working from home. A blessing with COVID is that people could see and learn that we could do things differently. We don’t always have to be at the office, we can use technology to our advantage, etc. People are quick to say it’s a disability need but in reality it is a human need. It is what works best and what working environment works best for us. I just want the world to see that when people request reasonable accommodations, they’re not asking for special treatment. When I request an accommodation it is because I want to be the best employee I can be and, in order to do that, I need accommodations. I’m not trying to take advantage of the system. Stop seeing accommodations as the means to get ahead. It is just that these are my needs and this is the best way that I can give back to my community and my employer. I want people to see that there is not one singular path, rather there are multiple paths for people to achieve success.

JILLIAN: Amazing. Okay, this is my last official question that I’ve always asked everyone I’ve ever interviewed: Are there any questions you would like to answer that you feel I have not asked? 

DANIELLE: No. This was a great interview and I feel like you really hit everything on the head. I just want to say keep doing what you’re doing. 

JILLIAN: Thank you so much.

Last question: what would your final meal be? This would include your appetizer, entree, dessert, and drink. There are no restrictions. 

DANIELLE: My drink would be an Arnold Palmer or Diet Coke. Appetizer...I love Indian samosas. For dinner, I love lobster and I love spaghetti. Those probably don’t go together but those are my two favorite things. For dessert, have you ever heard of Junior’s in New York? 

JILLIAN: Yes. 

DANIELLE: They have the best cheesecake so I would probably choose cheesecake from there. What about you? 

JILLIAN: Drink, I would probably have a glass of Riesling. For dinner, I love comfort food so it would probably be mac and cheese or any kind of pasta with a creamy, rich sauce. To start, lobster bisque. For dessert, I love creme brulee. I love the satisfaction of cracking the top. 

DANIELLE: Well, now you made me hungry. Thank you for the interview. I really appreciate all that you do and I can’t wait to see what you do next.