JULIE BOND GENOVESE: I completely defined
myself by my dwarfism, by the things that were wrong instead of looking at the things
that were right.
COMM: Julie Bon Genovese was born with dwarfism.
For years she suffered physical pain, cruel bullying and crippling self-doubt, but she
has turned things around publishing a self-help book and becoming a life coach, which has
given her and many others a new lease of life.
JULIE BOND GENOVESE: I’m a mom, a wife and a life coach.
LADY: Already, don’t feel panicky.
LADY: Keep spreading your magic.
JULIE BOND GENOVESE: I think my job as a coach
is to help people find their own truth. It’s like the breakdown before the breakthrough.
I mean you need time to give to yourself. It’s like the old oxygen mask analogy, you
know, we have to put that mask on ourselves first otherwise we can’t take care of anybody.
LADY: Yeah, it’s like I got to figure out a way, when I’m not busy busy working and
helping and stuffing to then when I’m not there as like I had to find a better balance.
JULIE BOND GENOVESE: Being born with dwarfism,
I grew up thinking I was a genetic mistake, a freak of nature. The type of dwarfism I
have is called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenital and it has affected all my joints.
I have had arthritis ever since I can remember. By the time I was ten, I couldn’t tie my
shoes or put socks on. My childhood, it was challenging. I remember one boy in particular
who just liked to target me. This one time I was walking home from school late and he
got down on his knees and started walking around me saying, “Look, I’m a dwarf,
too.” And I remember there was spit bubbling out the sides of his mouth. He was eye
to eye and laughing in my face. In my 20s when I started to read self-help books and
personal growth philosophy, that’s when I started to realise, I’m in my way. I can
have as good life as I believe in. I worked hard to change my belief system from victimhood
to empowerment and it transformed my life. So now I want to help other people do the
same thing.
COMM: Julie now uses her own past experiences
of struggling to accept herself and find love to help others do the same.
LADY: Hello!
JULIE BOND GENOVESE: Hi, Angel!
JULIE BOND GENOVESE: Do you feel like it’s
limiting your happiness, not having a partner? LADY: When I go anywhere that is couple related,
it’s like “Wow! I could be part of that”, but I can’t. People have been like, “Why
don’t you try online?" I think I’m just so scared and then like actually knowing like,
“Oh, you’re a little person.” Like, I think I got like a chat the other day and
it was like, the guy was like “Are you really 4ft tall? *laugh out loud* ”
JULIE BOND GENOVESE: Next time, I would respond and say, “Are you making fun of me or you
just wanting to introduce yourself in a humorous way?” Because my sister once said to me,
“Are you assuming that people will all define you by your dwarfism just because you do?”
and I thought, “Oh, I am.”
JULIE BOND GENOVESE: When my friends, my girlfriends
talked about their crushes and yeah, there first kiss, and I would just, I became the
one who was supportive of them and excited for them, but no one asked me. I felt, I don’t
like this body, no one else is going to like this body.
JULIE BOND GENOVESE: I met my husband when
I was 31. BILL GENOVESE: I love my wife.
BILL GENOVESE: Well, we met because of a mutual
friend that we didn’t know we had. JULIE BOND GENOVESE: And he said, “I heard
your voice before I saw you and what I heard was the joy.”
JULIE BOND GENOVESE: He didn’t see difference.
We just felt the connection.
BILL GENOVESE: With children she is amazing,
with our kids she is amazing and has a very long fuse. Because when one is a teenager
and one is 12, you need a long fuse.
SON: You’ve done this twice. You’ve turned
on the blender without the top on. JULIE BOND GENOVESE: Oh, yeah, that was fun.
SON: It’s always fun.
BILL GENOVESE: What I like most about her
is she doesn’t just lie back and say, “I’m done” or “I can’t do it”.
SON: Thanks mom!
JULIE BOND GENOVESE: Anytime.
JULIE BOND GENOVESE: Everything is gonna be
okay in the end. If it’s not okay, then it’s not the end.
LADY: Right!