Northamptonshire Paralympic hero Will Perry says he is “terminally ill” after being verbally abused for being dwarfed.
The 21-year-old represented Team GB in the men’s S6 100m freestyle in Tokyo this summer and finished in 18th place.
After enjoying the admiration, Perry, who has a common form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, said he has been filmed and laughed at on the street every day since then.
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Now Perry has spoken openly of his plight in a video recorded for the BBC and urged society to challenge such behavior reports from the Daily Mirror.
“Do you know what it’s like to be looked at and laughed at every day?” he asked.
“Because I do. And I’m absolutely sick of it.”
Perry stated that the nature of his abuse isn’t limited to just one or two types.
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“With dwarfism I get abused a lot in public. This includes taking photos, filmed, laughed at, stared at, and stared at. The list goes on.”
The swimmer believes it will continue as dwarfed people are portrayed on television or social media.
“I think it happens because we are portrayed in weird ways in so many films and social media posts.
“We are described as funny characters, and so people with short stature are mostly exposed to the public.
“We’re not that common, so people see us through movies, and that’s how they get to know us, and that’s how they think we’re in real life when it’s exactly the opposite.”
Perry revealed the extent of the abuse in a BBC video clip
(Image: BBC)
Perry believes the Tokyo Games were a celebration of various types of disability, but said that changed when the team returned home.
“I’ve just become a member of the public again,” he continued.
“And the abuse started again. It was like night and day and I think that’s one of the things that made it even more annoying.”
However, Northamptonshire’s Perry believes there is a simple solution to the problem and urged the public to act when mocking disabled people.
He also encouraged people of short stature not to be afraid to appear in public.
“If we all hide, no one will ever see us,” he added.
“I think we should all come out, be more among people and make people more aware of who we are. And I think that will make us a more normal member of society in the long run. “
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