Once we start talking in the classroom about the body and about how we live in our bodies, we’re automatically challenging the way power has orchestrated itself in that particular institutionalized space (hooks, 1994: 136-137).

Schools treat students’ bodies as an ‘absent presence’, that is, bodies are expected to fade in the background, as they are deemed 'disruptive' to learning. Nevertheless, not all bodies have the ‘ability’ to disappear, with some bodies appearing as ‘excessive’, including the disabled body (Mickalko, 2009).

This paper explores the lived experiences of young people with dwarfism of their secondary education in so-called inclusive schools in the United Kingdom. The research questions of the research were: 

• How do young people with dwarfism experience and navigate different school spaces of their secondary schools?
• What are their experiences with their teaching assistants?
• What are the experiences with their class teachers?
• What are the experiences with their peers?

Drawing on phenomenological disability studies (Paterson & Hughes, 1999; Titchkosky & Michalko, 2012) and Leder's (1990) concept of 'dys-appearance' (which occurs when the body emerges problematically into direct consciousness), this paper looks into how the bodies of young people with dwarfism appeared as a ‘problem’ in secondary schools.In particular, it considers how the young people’s bodies (were made to) appear as ‘out of time’ and ‘out of place’ or how they dys-appeared in time and space. 

This paper draws on a qualitative study, which aimed to explore the secondary schooling experiences of young people (between the ages of 11 and 30 years old) with dwarfism in the United Kingdom. A narrative inquiry approach was utilised (Tamboukou 2013), with participants having the agency to choose their preferred mode of storytelling: oral storytelling (narrative, semi-structured interviews), digital storytelling (written storytelling on a private weblog and email interviews), visual storytelling (visual stories). This approach was aligned with inclusive research (Manning 2010), accommodating participants’ needs. Participants were required to have a diagnosis of dwarfism, be between the ages of 11 and 30 years old, and be/have been educated in secondary schools in the UK. The choice of this age group aimed at looking into how young people with dwarfism who are still in secondary education (11–16 years old) are making sense of their schooling experiences as well as how young adults (17–30 years old) reflect on such experiences in hindsight. For access to and recruitment of participants, I contacted on Facebook Messenger and via email the charities and associations of people with dwarfism in the UK, namely Restricted Growth Association UK, Short Statured Scotland, Little People UK, Little People of Ireland, Dwarfs Sport Association UK, and Walking with Giants. The initial communication was to ask them to advertise the research on their social media pages and communicate it to their members, therefore, these associations acted as gatekeepers. Nineteen participants opted to participate in the research, including 9 teenagers and 10 adults. The sample ended up being quite diverse, including participants of both sexes, different ages, geographical locations, conditions of dwarfism (with achondroplasia being the most common), socio-economic and educational backgrounds, and participants with parents of ‘average stature’ and parents with dwarfism. Ethical approval was granted by the University of Sheffield. The research adhered to the ethical guidelines of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC, 2015) and the British Educational Research Association (BERA, 2018). Interviews were transcribed verbatim and a narrative thematic analysis was used to analyse data manually (Riessman 2005).

This paper presents stories of dys-appearance, which rendered young people with dwarfism as ‘out of place’ and ‘out of time. These stories highlight how young people with dwarfism navigate dis/ableist school timeframes and staturised (designed by and for the 'typically developing' child) spaces (Ktenidis, 2023), as well as how they disrupt them or resist them, through the introduction of crip (school) time. The psycho-emotional repercussions of dys-appearance and teachers' attempts to discipline such ‘unruly’ bodies are also considered. Finally, the disruptive potential of disability to reconsider schooling’s ableist developmentalist norms and inclusion are discussed.

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