Courtney Paslick, age 17

Nashville, TN

Sometimes I feel anger towards people who stare at me, and anger towards the parents that they don't teach their kids manners. Some people just let their kids stare. And others, when I say something to the child, get mad at me and say that I don't understand. And I do, I understand more than anybody. When someone is staring or says something mean to me, then to protect myself, I will obviously not say something as mean as they did to me, but just say something to protect myself. Say something like, "By you staring at me, you're the one who should be stared at," or something. I've never said anything really mean; I more like to stick out my tongue at them.

A big thing that happened to me was going to the Little People of America conference, because all of my life I've been surrounded by average-size people, and going to this conference made me realize that there are other people that I can talk to about problems I have. It's just a real eye-opener. Now I have a lot more friends to communicate with, and I realize that I am better off than a lot of other little people. And that I should be grateful for what I have.

I haven't dated-- ever. I have been really close to guy friends, but I haven't dated and I don't really know many people who are interested in dating a little person. It makes me mad that they don't want to know me better and that they look at the outside more than the inside.

Being around my friends makes me the happiest. We hang around at school a lot. And we go to each other's houses and to malls and stuff. Just like regular teenagers. I would still like to know what it feels like to be average-sized; to have a boyfriend...

But I like everything about me. I wouldn't change anything.