Over the past few years, you might have noticed a man called Peter Dinklage dominate our TV screens as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones.
He may be small in stature but he has cast an extremely large net over the entertainment industry and mainstream media.
So much so, it got me thinking that I'd never once met a dwarf, spoken to a dwarf or educated myself about being a dwarf. It's not because of some deep, underlying prejudice, I'd just never had the opportunity. I'm sure I'm not the only one who can relate to that.
When Jack Hilton messaged in to TheLADbible having been mistaken for an Oompa Loompa from a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory stage show by some very excitable Japanese tourists, I realised this was my chance to learn.
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Jack Hilton. Credit: Provided
The very first thing I wanted to know was... how often do people make comments about you being Tyrion Lannister?
"Yeah, people often shout Game of Thrones quotes at me," he said. "Though no one has ever actually mistaken me for him."
With that out of the way, we got talking about life. And although Jack, 26, has come to enjoy being a dwarf, it wasn't always like that.
Between the ages of 12 and 15, Jack had several surgeries to lengthen his legs. He had a total of 30 operations and spent two years in a wheelchair. To this day, he still feels the effects of the surgery, as the metal pins contract when it gets too cold.
He now stands at four feet 11 inches tall, and if he'd not had the operation, might have been in a wheelchair by the time he was 30.
As he got a bit older, though, Jack also had to battle depression and anxiety as he couldn't understand why he wasn't 'normal'.
"I was down and depressed and demanded anti-depressants off my GP," Jack explained. "She sat there listening to me for about 45 minutes and she was so positive about me that, by the end, I said I didn't want the pills anymore.
"With that, I was never depressed again. No matter what life dealt me, always be positive."
That doesn't mean it was all smiley, happy roses for Jack. In fact, he described to me a pretty bleak every-day outlook for dwarves.
"Everyday life is a struggle. Whether it's getting dressed, going out, people pointing, staring and commenting. It can be hard to get on with life," he explained.
"There's also a lot of confusion on terminology. Dwarf is the correct term. The word midget is frowned upon in the dwarf community as it's just as offensive as calling a black person the N word."
"In America they call dwarves 'little people' which I find the most degrading."
Jack isn't quite so sensitive and allows his friends to call him 'Snow White's gangbang buddy' but that doesn't mean every dwarf you come across will be so easy going! So please don't get yourself hurt going around offending dwarves.
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Jack dressed up at Wireless Festival. Credit: Provided
It's probably that easy-going nature that helps Jack so much with the ladies. He has a girlfriend now, but once upon a time he was free and single and he had some stories to tell.
He said: "Girls will always make you motorboat them. When your head is the exact size of their boobs, nine times out of ten they will just grab your head and suffocate you in their boobs.
"You do get flashed boobs a lot. I think I have seen more boobs than anyone I know."
Another time, Jack was sat in the pub with some friends when he noticed a girl looking at him.
"I thought she must be the same as everyone else, staring because I'm a dwarf," he said.
"I ignored it and carried on drinking but I couldn't help but look at her because she was smiling and whispering in her friend's ear while looking at me.
"Then she pointed at me and her friend looked over so I went over all paranoid and said, 'What are you staring at?!'
"She simply replied, 'I was planning on coming over to talk to you as I think you're cute but I won't be trying to get you into bed with that attitude'."
He'd fucked it. You can see why Jack had fucked it... but he still fucked it.
Now he's happily settled down with a girlfriend who doesn't have dwarfism. He says the relationship is about as normal as they come.
"She says it's like being with any other man. I'm completely selfish and constantly pestering her for blowjobs, so pretty normal," Jack said - sounds about right, too.
And apparently there's an appetite among the public to sleep with dwarves. A dwarf Jack worked with in panto last Christmas claimed he was offered £1,000 to have sex with someone else's wife.
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Credit: Provided
"I think there's a growing fascination after seeing Tyrion in action. I'm still waiting for the offers to come in," he joked.
And, as you can see above, people seem to love picking dwarves up...
It's not all fun and games, though. At his height, clothes aren't too much of a problem. However, for smaller dwarves, they'll often have to shop in the children's section or pay a lot of money for specially made or altered clothing.
Walking at a regular speed and not experiencing pain, reaching the top or the back of a shelf and not being referred to as 'cute' all the time, are all things dwarves have to contend with every day.
And of course, simply blending in to society.
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Jack after watching England at the rugby. Credit: Provided
I wondered why Jack didn't just mix with more dwarves if he ever felt 'isolated' in society.
He replied: "I've grown up surrounded by regular-sized people. I think that's the same for all dwarves unless you attend conventions. It isn't intentional, we're just few and far between."
Despite that sentiment, Jack did meet some of his best friends when he was playing one of seven dwarves in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in Stockport last year.
"It was an eye opener getting to know how dwarfism affects people in different ways and hearing about their experiences. It made me appreciate how lucky I am as I have it quite easy compared to some of them."
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Jack before going on stage as one of the seven dwarves. Credit: Provided
Jack currently works as a chef but, in the past year, he's been cracking the entertainment industry as well as starring in a new show called The Paranormal Misfits.
Luckily for Jack, he doesn't suffer from stage fright having been brought on stage alongside bands like Sum 41, Hollywood Undead (below) and Enter Shikari - presumably because he's a dwarf.
"Other people need to go to acting school and never get anything whereas I go straight to the top because I'm a dwarf," he said.
"I have embraced being small and turned what was a negative for me into a positive and it's how I make my living and it pays amazingly well for a disability."
Jack's life is by no means terrible. In fact, it has become the opposite. But, for many dwarves, living with dwarfism is a difficulty they have to live with every single day.
It's not all fun and games like Tyrion Lannister makes out.
Words by George Pavlou
Featured image credit: PA/provided
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