media reports

media reports - 2002

Selected newspaper article reprints about people of short stature, including SSPA members, as well as short stature in general from newspapers and magazines around Australia from 2002.
For articles from around the world about people of short stature and short stature in general, go to http://www.shortsupport.org/cgi-bin/news_list.cgi

2002

Headlines

3 February 2002 Prelate questions coroner
Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun (Victoria, Australia)
12 March 2002 As tough as they come
Waverley Gazette (Victoria, Australia)
21 March 2002 Superfish Sarah aims for Games
Hornsby Advocate (New South Wales, Australia)
28 June 2002 Little boy's ordeal mobilises community
Brisbane Courier Mail (Queensland, Australia)
11 October 2002 Lil' mighty Margaret
Melbourne Herald-Sun (Victoria, Australia)

Prelate questions coroner.
Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia), 3 February 2002, p. 10.

THE Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne has taken an unprecedented swipe at the coroner's ruling over an aborted 32 week-old fetus. Archbishop Denis Hart branded Jacinta Heffey's decision that she did not have jurisdiction to hear the case a "serious misjudgement".
The Royal Women's Hospital referred the csse to the coroner following the late-term abortion in February 2000.
A suicidal 40-year-old woman had the fetus aborted after it was diagnosed as having a non-lethal form of dwarfism.
Archbishop Hart said the law seemed to permit ever-widening boundaries for abortion and he was mystified by Ms Heffey's ruling.
``I believe it's a serious misjudgment of the relevant issues,'' he said.
Archbishop Hart said while he respected Ms Heffey's competence, and that she should administer the law as it stood, there should have been an inquest.
He said the fetus was above the age at which many children were born in Melbourne.
``If it is true that our laws do not protect children in such cases -- indeed do not even allow a full coronial inquest -- there is something seriously wrong with our laws.''
A spokesman for the coroner's office said Ms Heffey had reviewed the hospital records and concluded she had no jurisdiction because the baby was stillborn.
He said the coroner's court only had jurisdiction over reportable deaths and since there was no birth there was no death. Ms Heffey made the ruling in chambers.
Attorney-General Rob Hulls was awaiting legal advice on the matter, a spokeswoman said.
Lawyer Adrian Anderson said the coroner had made an interpretation that there was no death.
In the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, stillbirth is excluded from the definition of death.
He said it would have been open to Ms Heffey to make a different ruling, but that would have required a very bold interpretation of the Act.
``It would have been a very progressive decision,'' he said.
``It would have been a landmark decision if she decided that (a death had occurred).''
Archbishop Hart called for a moratorium on abortion to allow the Government to reconsider the balance between the rights of a mother and an unborn child.
``I respect the coroner and I respect the information the coroner has to which I'm not privy, but there is an underlying public issue of the rights of the person that we neglect to our peril.''
Archbishop Hart said all abortion was killing and this particular case was abhorrent.
``Are there to be no limits to abortion and infanticide in this state?' '
He said children with disabilities had a right to life and deserved special protection.
``We should never buy into the mentality that short-statured people are better off dead or we are better off without them.
``Sadly, that is exactly the message that has been communicated by this recent decision and the laws and medical practices behind it.' '
Archbishop Hart said the Catholic community was ashamed at the legal and medical climate which had allowed the death to go unchallenged.
Right to Life president Margaret Tighe said the ruling was disappointing, but she realised the coroner's hands were tied.
Urging a police investigation, she said: ``I think it has to go much further than the coroner, and what is the Government going to do about this?''
Catherine Davis, a member of the Pro-Choice Coalition, congratulated the coroner.
``The law shouldn't dictate what women can or can't do regarding their reproductive choices,'' she said.
``We believe it is a fetus, it isn't a child and a death hasn't occurred because a birth hasn't occurred.''
Royal Women's Hospital clinical director of obstetrics and gynaecology Dr Jeremy Oats said the decision added clarity to a difficult legal and medical area.
Since the abortion the hospital had implemented guidelines and a review process.
Three senior hospital staff were suspended then reinstated after an inquiry found they had acted in good faith.
Ms Heffey would not comment on the issue.

As tough as they come
Waverley Gazette (Victoria, Australia), 12 March 2002, p. 8.

A brave Wheelers Hill teenager is kicking down the barriers connected with a restricting genetic condition. Sam Lilly, who suffers from achondroplasia a hereditary form of dwarfism, recently earned a half black belt in tae kwon do.
The 13-year-old keen Essendon AFL supporter proved many sceptics wrong when she lined up with able-bodied athletes at the Melbourne Taekwondo Centre in Glen Waverley to earn the grading, after training in the martial art for four years.
None were more proud of Sam's efforts than her father, Leon.
``She's a determined kid and doesn't let anything about her condition get in her way,'' Mr. Lilly said.
``There are many times where it is tough for her, but she manages to win through.''
Mr. Lilly also has a black belt in tae kwon do, after joining the martial art with his daughter in 1998.
``It's been great for her self-esteem after years of never being picked to be in normal sporting teams,'' he said.
``Finally she's been able to rise and succeed.''
There is no stopping Sam. The eager teenager is already in training to earn her full black belt next year.
``We're doing it together, which helps when times get a little frustrating for her,'' Mr. Lilly said.
When Sam is not practising tae kwon do, she is most likely practising violin or the cornet on both of which she is an accomplished player.
``She's a tough kid and it will get her places,'' Mr. Lilly said.

Superfish Sarah aims for Games.
Hornsby Advocate (New South Wales, Australia), 21 March 2002, p. 72.

OVER the past year, Sarah Rose's self-perception has changed dramatically.
As a person of short stature, 16-year-old Sarah has become used to people looking at her.
But since she began competing in disabled swimming competitions last year, Sarah, from Pymble, no longer considers being 125cm tall a disability.
``Some of my friends have been born able-bodied and gotten hit by cars,'' Sarah said.
``Some of them can't talk that well and can't walk and mine's just because of my size so I feel lucky.''
Before she took up swimming seriously, the Turramurra High School student had little contact with disabled people.
She has made a lot of great new friends.
``No-one cares what disability you have got,'' she said.
``You compete against them and they're all supportive of you.''
In the last year, Sarah has broken five Australian records, 12 state records and one open state record.
Breaststroke is her best stroke.
She will compete in the 2002 Telstra Australian Open Championships in Brisbane tomorrow.
Sarah's aim is to compete for Australia at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Greece.
She decided to take up competitive swimming after going to see events at the 2002 Paralympic Games in Sydney.
When she went to visit the autograph stand Sarah was told she should think of doing disabled sport.
``I got really pumped up,'' she said.
She now trains six times a week at West Pymble Swimming Pool and regulary attends disabled swim camps.
``I fully love swimming now,'' she said.
``I wouldn't stop.''
Sarah set three new records at the NSW Disabled Swimming Championships last November -- in the 15 years 50m and 100m breaststroke and 200m individual medley.
She then set another record in December for the 50m butterfly before shaving another six seconds off her 50m breaststroke record this year.

Little boy's ordeal mobilises community.
Brisbane Courier Mail (Queensland, Australia), 5 June 2002, p. 41.

AT the age of five, Blooms Syndrome sufferer Corey Lawson weighs less than his two-year-old sister, Amy. When fully grown he will be lucky to reach his mother's shoulder. But the tiny Sunshine Coast boy has captured hearts in his local community, which raised enough to send him to the US with his family to see the only doctors in the world who specialise in the disease.
Corey's mother, Michelle said she and her husband Michael had been overwhelmed by the generosity of people in the towns of Eumundi and Doonan, west of Noosa.
Ms. Lawson said a local businessman donated the $6500 needed to fly the whole family to New York and a local club had raised enough to send the Lawsons to Disneyland after all the tests were done.
And a further $5000 is expected to be raised in a charity auction at the Imperial Hotel in Eumundi tonight.
"The four of us will go over to America to see the doctors over there and hopefully they will be able to help us and help the doctors here look after Corey." Ms. Lawson said.
She said the Eumundi Pool Club donated the Disneyland tickets as a treat for the family.
"It's just to make the trip a bit special so it's not all medical. They've been really generous."
She said the cost of care for Corey, including trips to the pediatrician, ophthal, physiotherapist and speech therapist, meant that without the support of the community the trip to America would have been impossible.
"There's only 250 people in the world who have it, so it will give a baseline for Corey for the doctors here to know what to work on." she said.
"There's no one here that knows about it, it's so rare."
The short stature syndrome causes delayed grow and a variety of other symptoms including a weak immune system and a higher risk of leukemia in childhood and other cancers later in life.

Lil' mighty Margaret.
Melbourne Herald-Sun (Victoria, Australia), 11 October 2002, p. 31.

AT school, her peers called Margaret Doueal the Dynamo Midget.
And yesterday, at the 2002 World Masters Games, the 147cm squash player proved she still deserved the nickname.
Doueal, 68, helped win gold for her team in the 65-plus age category.
Doueal has won 12 state titles and 11 national titles for her age group and has beaten competitors in their 20s and 30s.
``I hold my own,'' she said. ``I can run. I can still drop-kick a football.''
Doueal, from McCrae, on the Mornington Peninsula, only took up squash when she was 40, after giving up sport when she relinquished cricket at age 21.
``Women didn't really play sport,'' she said. ``We were a bit of a freak when we were playing cricket.''
Doueal's secret to keeping fit is simple. She loves to walk, she loves her vegetables and she doesn't smoke and doesn't drink.
``This lady used to get off the bus, go to a hotel all day,'' she said.
``Her husband used to come from work and make sure she got on the bus and he said to me once, `I introduced her to alcohol'. That turned me right off because he had to come everyday to make sure she got home OK.'

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