Keisha Shakespeare-Blackmore, Staff Reporter

Soferia Francis Cameron said she too likes to be fashionable, despite being a dwarf. - Omar Taylor/Contributed

Unlike Akin Adaramaja, the six-foot-nine-inch subject of last week's Lifestyle section, Soferia Francis Cameron is only four feet, two inches tall. As Adaramaja, who gets stares whereever he goes, so does Cameron. Read on about her life as an extremely short person.

Soferia Francis Cameron is four feet, two inches tall. However, dwarfism does not limit her. She moves around and does everything just as anyone else. Also, she readily makes it known that she is no saint.

"Me a thugs. Why me should let me height stop mi from doing what I want to do. Anywhere I want to go, I go even alone. And, anything I want to wear, I wear. What to stop me?"

Better known as 'Sophia' in her hometown of Trinityville, St. Thomas, she is no pushover. Cameron is a fierce and feisty woman, with a passion for trendy outfits.

These traits, she said, are not to compensate for her height or to seek attention.

"I am a hard-core woman. Tell me the truth, how should being a dwarf get to me? Me is a normal somebody, just that I am shorter," she reasons. "I am just who I am."

"I have never said I am sorry that I am not tall. I have never used those words. I have accepted my shortness."

Several criticisms

Inevitably, she has received several criticisms and verbal abuse owing to her stature.

"People have 'styled' me all sort a way. But, I put that behind me," she said. She is often called 'short gal' and other demeaning terms.

"When I go about in the country, people pass and say words like, "midget" or "dwarf". Or, they will talk about how I dress as if me not supposed to look good too." These comments, she said, have not affected her as they merely slide through her ears. What does get Cameron upset are persons trying to physically abuse her.

"(They will) try to fight me, because they think that I am weak. But it no work out. Now everybody knows who I am."

Cameron also made it known that she had never had any problems finding a partner. In fact, she has been married for the past five years and her husband is six feet tall. Comments have also been hurled at their height difference.

"Several times people pass comment 'bout on mi wedding day mi husband have to lift me up and how I had to stand on a block. But all of that are lies. I reach anything I want to reach," she retorted.

The 30-year-old woman is the only dwarf of her family of 10 siblings. Her family has theorised that her dwarfism is a result of her mother's alcohol abuse during pregnancy.

"When I lived in England, I went to a doctor and he said the same thing; that it is because my mother smoked and drank a lot of rum when she was pregnant with me is the main cause of my height," she revealed. This theory might also be the main reason why she has never researched dwarfism.

"Mi no interested. This is how God made me. I accept myself how I am. Never go library and read book. Not at all," she said in her usual straightforward tone. She wants misconceptions relating to dwarfism to be dispelled.

Stupid questions

"Sometimes people ask me some stupid questions such as, how I reach the stove? Or if I can wash or cook? People need to stop getting the wrong idea. We are normal people. They need to stop thinking that we have to jump up or tip to reach everything," she said.

Cameron is a very confident woman who takes pride in her appearance. She told Lifestyle that despite being petite, she is sexy, especially emphasising her bow legs. "My bow legs even meck me look sexier," she added.

To young girls who are dwarfs, she encourages them to be brave and confident.

"Just be yourself. It is nature, something you cannot change so accept it. You will have people say good and say bad. Don't allow that to get to you." Accepting herself is the main reason she is able to do whatever she wants without reservation.

"I don't have a problem. Not even to find clothes. Some of my clothes are from New York and I shop around at arcades in Kingston and different parishes."

Whether one is short or tall, Cameron said everyone should accept who they are and live how they want to without criticising someone because of their physical appearance.

"I have not and will not let my height bother me. What am I going to do? This is how God has made me and I have to just accept it."