Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) at LPA

“We are people with all the hopes, dreams, passions, and faults of everyone else” – Billy Barty

While LPA has maintained its mission to support and inform people of short stature and their families, much has changed since its founding in 1957. Over that time, LPA membership has evolved into a culturally diverse membership that is representative of multiple socio-economic, cultural, and ethnic groups, as well as differences in types of dwarfism. To ensure that our organization is evolving as well, this summer, LPA committed to hiring a Social Justice consultant team to help guide our community to be more inclusive and just to all members and potential members. After a review process, LPA engaged the services of Patrick Cokley and Deb Dagit (Deb Dagit Diversity LLC) to work with our board and staff to identify specific and actionable steps to correct systemic failures that have weakened our ability to provide support to people of color. Deb and Patrick have respected professional bona fides in the arena of social justice and equity along with a deep familiarity with LPA after decades of membership within LPA.

As a first step on our journey to be a stronger, more inclusive, more supportive organization gets underway, a critical piece is hearing from our members. Our Social Justice consultants are conducting a survey and scheduling a series of listening sessions to help identify areas in which we can do better. The survey is a short series of questions and answers that should only take 15 minutes to complete. Your open and honest answers will help identify some of the unique identities that are a part of LPA and help show us places where we can do more for our members.

Click to Access Survey

Some of the participants of the survey will also be invited to listening sessions where they will have the opportunity to speak candidly about their personal experiences, as well as ways that LPA can create practices to allow for feedback and greater involvement from all of the diverse communities within our organization. Thank you in advance for your participation as we strive to find solutions to better support a more diverse membership and leadership composition and steps that we can take to maintain our standard as a receptive and welcoming organization for all individuals with dwarfism and their families.