Hey y'all, long time no blog. I had an idea for what I wanted to write about in my next post but of course I forgot it. So until then I'll give you an update on my life and being a little person at Tulane.
As far as anyone can tell, including myself, I am the only dwarf at Tulane. That makes me feel special knowing that I am truly one of a kind here, but unfortunately it does have its downside. Saturday night, my friends and I went out to the frats and The Boot. While walking past this one frat, two girls pointed at me and said something along the lines of, "Look there's a midget....There's a midget on campus..." While walking, I turned around to look at them and said, "I can hear you," then walked away. We kept walking towards The Boot and as we moved to get in line, two guys pointed at me and said something along the lines of, "Look there's a midget...There's a midget on campus...Do you see the midget?..." Again I turned around to look at them and said, "I can hear you," then walked away. Needless to say that put me in a mood and I was at the point in the night when I just wanted to go back to my dorm. The night wasn't fun anymore so we did walk back a few minutes later after a quick stop at The Boot Store. When I told my friends what happened they immediately jumped to my defense and said that if that ever happened again to let them know and they'll back me up. So shout out to MO-10 for being the best floor ever!!
Aside from those people last night, people have treated me pretty normally. No one automatically assumes I can't do something because I'm little or acts like I'm a child because I'm the same size as one. Now that doesn't mean I still have moments where I feel invisible or left out but those moments are becoming more scarce and far between.
Classes are challenging but they're the kind of challenges I like facing head on. I thought I was crazy for wanting to take on Arabic and symbolic logic and intro to macroeconomics but I'm so happy I did. They are interesting and the professors make me want to learn.
I'm also loving Football! While waking up at 5:30 in the morning is a struggle, I'm learning a lot and the team is great. I am "one of the guys" in the sense that they don't consider any job for me too big because I am small. I can't wait for our first away game this Thursday as it will be my first time traveling with the team. Good luck boys!
Now how do I make this big campus a little smaller for me? It's been a bit of a challenge as there aren't stools in every room and a guidance counselor to take care of my issues with a simple phone call. It's been a lot of playing around and seeing what works and so far with the help of the Office of Disability Services, the changes we've made have been for the better. I am getting online textbooks or PDFs so I have to carry my computer instead of all my books with me from class to class and passes that allow me to be a few minutes late if and ONLY if those few minutes are necessary.
So that's my life so far at Tulane. I pinky swear my next post will be less about me in general and more about making this average sized world a little smaller.
Tasharrafna!
-Jillian Ilana
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