‘I’d never change being little for the world’
Inspirational mum becomes an internet sensation educating people about living life with dwarfism
A mum-of-two from Thorney Close has been sharing what it is like living with dwarfism to thousands of followers on TikTok.
Laura Phillips, who is mum to Nathan, seven, and Jax, two, uses her TikTok account – which has over 69,000 followers – to educate people about living with dwarfism.
Laura, her husband also Nathan and two sons all have dwarfism and the 31-year-old happily answers questions on topics ranging from day-today life, pregnancy, how she metherhusbandandevenher son’s McDonald’s order on the video-sharing app.
Laura has said she is happy to answer most questions as she opens up her life to thousands of viewers.
She said: “During lockdown, my sister Kristen and son Nathan started a TikTok account together – Nathan loves performing as both his dad and I do it so he’s always been around it.
"Theywouldgetaskedquestions so I decided to create an account to answer them and it has took off from there.
"A lot of disabilities aren’t spoken about, I’ve had parents ask me how to explain dwarfism to their children, people haveaskedifthosewithdwarfismcanhavenormalsizedchildren and some people think
we’re in pain on a daily basis but we’re not, we’re just little.”
The31-year-oldisveryopen and welcomes questions from followers. She said: "I don't mind what questions people ask, it is all part of educating people, if they don’t ask, they
will never know. Even off TikTok,whenwe’reoutandabout, I’m approachable – people can literally just ask me questions.
Laura has said she is grateful for the opportunities that her disability has given her to work in the entertainment industry. She added: "I love it, the things I’ve done in life and the opportunitiesthatI’vehad,itis because I’m little.
"I’d travelled around the world three times by the age of 21, Demi Lovato booked me for her tour manager’s birthday, I’ve been in Harry Potter and various pantomimes, not many people can say that and I’d never change being little for the world.”
The mum-of-two has also found she has been able to ask questions on her own on the video-sharing app as she deals with her son’s autism.
She said: "TikTok has also helped me as Jax has autism and I’ve been able to connect with other parents who have been able to give me advice.”