Living in a small town never stopped Riley Windeler from pursuing his dreams.
The 27-year-old grew up in Horsefly B.C., which has a population of about 1,000. Growing up Windeler says he was bullied because he has dwarfism.
Windeler is now writing a children’s book on his experience growing up with the condition. He hopes to publish his book and teach kids about dwarfism by putting it in schools.
“Younger kids might not know about uncommon things like dwarfism, putting this in the school systems will be a teaching lesson,” says Windeler. “Even though these people have differences, there’s something to learn off them.”
Windeler said his condition never stopped him from being like any other kid and participating in all the things his friends did.
“The book shows my experiences of being told I couldn’t do something because of my size, and saying I can do anything that an average person can do.”
Windeler has worked as an educational assistant in Horsefly and hopes his writing will inspire others.
“We may have differences but we can do the same things that an average person can. It may not be in the same form or in the same way, but anything is possible.”