James Chapman is the eternal optimist.
At 115 centimetres and 42 kilograms, age 19, he learned a long time ago that size does not matter.
Born with pseudoachondroplasia, it means he has disproportionate short stature, commonly called dwarfism. It's one of more than 350 genetic conditions identified that result in restricted growth. Achondroplasia affects approximately one in every 20,000 births, with an estimated 1100 people Australia having the condition, according to Short Statured People of Australia, the national support organisation for people with conditions of dwarfism.
HEALTH CONCERNS
At age nine, Chapman, born and raised in Newcastle, had surgery to secure eight plates in his legs to reduce the bowing of his legs, one of the effects of his condition. Since then, he's not had major physical obstacles.
"As a kid, after surgery, I got quite overweight, because I wasn't mobile," Chapman says. "I spent three months missing out on school - three months in bed - pretty gnarly. I put on weight. I stayed that way until year 8 and just lost it all, turned it into muscle.
"Now, I see every day as a blessing I get to do sport and activity. You never know when something will happen and my legs won't be good. It's why I do so much exercise now. It's just taking advantage of what I have with a healthy body."
He's relatively lucky: many born with a form of achondroplasia suffer severe problems with abnormalities with of the skull and spine which can lead to neurological problems.
Chapman has not been back to a specialist doctor in five years.
"I just found I was at a point where I was super healthy and I was doing everything I wanted to," he says. "There were some other surgeries I could be getting, but I was like, 'if this is going to take away from my life now, it's not something I want to get into'.
"It's on the fence between you want to set yourself up for success in the long run, but you also want to live while you are healthy now. I'm trying to find the in-between of setting my body up for the future, but also ensuring I can make the most of my body while it's healthy."
PURSUIT OF SPORT
Chapman has pursued sport with vigour. He played soccer with the Lambton Jaffas for four years, and in 2023 was a member of the Australian team at the Dwarf World Games in Germany. Australia defeated Canada and the US, before losing to France in a penalty shootout.
Chapman is also an avid skateboarder and surfer. Last year he took his first skydive when he made a video for Better Beer's $100,000 national "Day For It" video competition - competitors had five days to make a video and enter it. Chapman's entry with mates took out second, it included skateboarding, swimming and skydiving.
He moved on from riding scooters as a youngster to skateboarding.
"Since I was like 13, I got into it," he says. "I'm a very competitive person, so me and two mates started skating at the same time, and I just needed to be better than them. We just skated every day during school holidays, began skating at Bar Beach [surf bowl], then got a job as skate coach. Because I have to analyse everything super well, it helped out my coaching.
"I understand how my foot placement works, how I need to put my weight in certain areas, I'm just like fortunate in understanding how my body works, because I've always been at doctors and been told what my body looks like and how it's suppose to work, so I had a really cool insight over skating. If you move your head and shoulders, then your hips feet will follow... I froth it."
Surfing was harder to conquer.
"I started surfing before skating, but surfing's been a difficult one," Chapman says. "Because my arms are quite short, I had a lot of problems with paddling and duck diving. I'm fortunate to have one of my best mates, who is a semi-professional surfer now who spends a lot of time travelling, but growing up he taught me how to surf along with a bunch of other mates. For the past two years I've been getting better, but it's a been a journey over four or five years putting in some time."
Chapman uses a custom-made Jai Byrnes 4-foot-eight Thruster with an elevated deck so he can have additional foam to keep it short.
"Because I weigh more than the average 3-foot-eight person, I have to figure how to keep a lot of foam in there, but keep it short and narrow enough to be able to do turns and move on..."
Byrnes also added two straps on the board, to make it easier for Chapman to duck dive through the waves.
Chapman's favourite beach is Newcastle.
"I love Newy," he says. "I surf at Cowrie Hole a lot, because it's an easy rip out and it breaks the same, so that's handy. Otherwise, I spend a lot of time on the stretch as well.
"Newy is definitely a favorite at the moment. My grandparents live just across the road. So it's always good to get a surf and then get a free bacon and egg roll at my grandparents' house.
"Everyone who surfs is pretty cool. So you meet some pretty cool people out here."
DETERMINATION
Chapman works with the youth ministry at The Grainery church, and he's mentored younger people with dwarfism. He's a natural: his positivity is contagious.
"Anyone can do anything they want as long as they put time into it," he says. "That's all that it takes. Like surfing and skating didn't come up from one time doing it. It was through spending days on days on days, even years, not making it out the back or getting smashed, or coming into the beach without getting one wave, to get to the point of where I am now.
"It's just building up resilience and understanding that everything's a journey. You're not going to be good at something straight away, you have to put the practice in."
Resilience is a key in general, for Chapman. Short-statured people face everyday challenges that average-sized people never think about. Like getting tired legs from walking shorter distances. Or not being able to reach things ("From a young age I've been good at asking people for help, and that's a big one that a lot of people struggle with," Chapman says.)
And then there is the ignorance, or sometimes just plain innocence with children.
"I've got a pretty strong sense of who I am," Chapman says. "I've never struggled with names and stuff, although I've grown up, especially in public, you've always got kids who stare and call you names. You have kids coming up and saying, 'why's your head so big?' and 'are you an adult? Are you a baby? Why are you so short?' Why you so fat', stuff like that while growing up.
"I felt that was always a little bit hard to go through as a child, like thinking that you are different. And also, just figuring out who you are, struggling with the sense, 'everybody's calling me these different things, but who am I? Who do I believe I am'."
Chapman takes life head-on. He'd like others to do the same.
"I think the safest thing is to call someone a short-statured person," he says. "Some people really don't like the term dwarf... I don't mind it too much. Some people don't like the word midget, that's probably the most offensive term you could use. I definitely recommend steering clear of that word, it's just so degrading, and doesn't bring a lot of life to the situation.
"But I think the best case, ask what their name is and call them by their name."
'A BIT OF FUN IN EVERYTHING'
Chapman has always had a job (even though he is eligible for a pension), drives his own car (a Mitsubishi Outlander with adjusted pedals and a pillow behind his back). He's a big fan of Peter Dinklage, the most-well known short-statured actor in the world.
He admits he got a kick out of Wee Man (Jason Acuna), the shortest cast member of the crazy stunt show Jackass, when he was much younger. "I think it's awesome," he says. "I grew up loving Jackass, the funniest show ever. It's super outrageous. But now, I think, I probably wouldn't do it."
Yet, he puts the silliness into perspective.
"There's got to be a bit of fun in everything. If you get offended by everything that comes at you, you're going to live a life in defence, cause we're very easily offended as a society.
"I've been very easily offended at times in my life as well. But now I'm at a point where nothing can really offend me. And because of that, I've always got a smile on my face. You just find the positive outcome."
For age 19, Chapman has a mature outlook on what the future holds. He's probably at higher risk of physical impairment caused by his condition than most people. He faces daily challenges that most people would never be aware of. But life is not wearing him down.
"I look at life like I'm the most blessed person in the world," Chapman says. "But you've always got to count your blessings. And I think there's always going to be disadvantages, that's in everyone's story. It's about how you go through them. If you were sad about everything bad that happened in your life, it wouldn't be good. You got to come at life where you love yourself, and you love what you can do."
