The other day I got an email opportunity to talk to Amy Roloff, one of the stars of TLC's documentary show Little People, Big World. In case you haven't seen it, the show focuses on the Roloff family, who, among other things, run a pumpkin farm outside of Hillsboro. Also, Amy, her husband Matt, and their youngest son Jacob have dwarfism.

Roloff has taken her celebrity and ran with it, starting her own charitable foundation that gives to a slew of charities, many of them local to the Portland area. Her current mission is planning a celebrity charity cruise that will not only raise money but plans to stop in Haiti and bring much needed personal items to the children there (blankets, etc.) There will also be games and activities, plus, she tells me, someone might get married! If you want to sign up and go cruising, now's the time! The Roloffs' son Jacob and daughter Molly Jo will be onboard too!

I took some time to talk to Amy about dwarfism in the media and being bona fide celebrity.

MERCURY: Royal Caribbean is billing this as a celebrity cruise. After five seasons of Little People, Big World, do you feel like a celebrity or is that label still uncomfortable?
AMY ROLOFF: I think it's a mixture of both! To some perspectives, I may sense that I'm a celebrity because everyone around me keeps telling me that I am, but as to some of the uncomfortability of that word "celebrity," yeah, I sometimes don't feel that I am. It's a show about me, it's a show about my family, it's a show about us as a group and also us as individuals, so I don't think I necessarily have changed to the extent that I'm not any part of who I was before the show started. I definitely think it has given people a different dimension on us as individuals, but obviously some of us have dwarfism, like myself, my husband and my youngest son, and that's really one of the main reasons that we did the show: what an opportunity to educate people about dwarfism or people with disabilities in general on such a normal level! To me, I feel normal because this is my normalcy, this is my life, but to give the perspective to other people that, though you may look at all the differences at first, by watching the show I think people have sensed, "Boy, there are really more similarities than there are differences!" And the cruise is just another extension on what I already like to do on the show. I love to travel, I've done it before and what better way to take the benefit of my celebrity and help other people?

Do you think the media's portrayal of people with dwarfism—or even disabilities in a larger context—has changed over the past decade?
I think in the last several years, slowly but surely, not just for people with disabilities but for people from other cultures and stuff, it is beginning to become okay to have certain people in a role that's typically for somebody else. The example I'll give is a person that I know quite well, her name is Meredith Eaton and she was on Boston Legal as a lawyer. [Eaton is four feet tall. —Ed] That was fabulous because they could have had anyone play that role. To me that gave the show so much more dimension by having somebody that nobody thought would do that part, but is more than capable of being a lawyer in real life!

What are some other examples you can point to that have had a similar impact?
I think that one of the bigger things that I think our show has done that I'm really appreciative of is helping people think and not to get so locked into one aspect: that little people are only for the commercials during Christmas time because they can be elves or other fantasy-type of things. Broadening that perspective [makes people say], "You know what, I have this little person who wants to do this and that or job employment or other things in the media. I don't always have to lock them into this one little thing." People have seen them as doctors or lawyers or playing sports like my son and I have done and the doors have opened to many more possibilities and people in the media don't always have to lock them into only one perspective because of that show. And I think the image of being someone with dwarfism is slowly becoming more palatable to the public.

From your position in the show, how do you make sure the show is never exploitative? It seems like it would be a fine line to walk.
There are several levels to that. Matt and I decided to do this show not for the different reasons that people want to be in movies, TV, Hollywood or whatever else—it wasn't about the money. Yes, it became a source of financial resources for us, but truly our initiative was, "Boy, what an opportunity to educate people in a media outlet that has never been done before like this." My second, as a mother, was that TV follows us; we do not follow TV. Meaning, my kids will continue to do what they do because it's supposed to be a show about us, it's supposed to be about how what we think and do and give people a perspective that this is real, this isn't staged. Keeping my kids grounded in the sense of their schooling or activities that, yeah, TV can come and film their sporting event of soccer or something like that. Great, I'll let TV take care of the logistics! It's not like we stopped our lives because we decided to have this major event become incorporated in our family. I tried my best to incorporate this big event into our family without changing what we do. My thinking is, we're so grateful and thankful that the show has been able to go on for as long as it has because people have loved seeing the kids grow up, seeing similarities in all the different issues we've gone through.... Our audience is all over the country. It crosses cultural boundaries, economic boundaries, all perspectives, because a family is in all of those different areas.

But the other perspective is, it's given me an opportunity to start a foundation, have my kids see me reaching out to other people, taking an opportunity and even going further with it and I think that's what this cruise does. But look at how we're taking it one step further and on one of our ports of call helping out a place that has recently been devastated. And reaching out to people on the cruise: "Guess what, you're still going to have a great time, but for a change of course we're going to do something different at this port of call," and making them feel richer about the memories they're sharing with their families or whatever group they choose to be on the cruise with. It's taking these different steps and opportunities and going good with it. I am taking advantage of my celebrity! It's given me a lot of good stuff and, in the long run, it's been a really great experience!

Your Wikipedia page says your family receives up to a dozen emails a minute from fans. Is that accurate?
I don't know if it's 12 emails every minute, but I tell you, we are slammed with emails every day. Anywhere from people who love our show and—as always when you put yourself in the media—we even get people who go, "I don't think I like what you just did there." [We receive emails from] people in the medical field all over the country, or even in different countries, [about] how they've faced dwarfism and how it's opened up different doors for them. From parents who found out they were expecting a dwarf child and this show has enlightened them over this fear of "Oh my God, what are we going to do?" type of thing. We get a ton of email every day.

And some of them are nitpicking things you've done on the show?
Oh absolutely, that's what media's about. But you know what? In the long day of it we get a lot of positive emails. To be told that we're inspiring to other people, as a little person I never thought I would have the opportunity to have someone else view me in the perspective that, whatever they were going through, our show has helped them get through some medical situation, some relationship issue or dealing with their kids or whatever it may be. Or just inspired in general, that it's helped them see their own life and say, "Wow, I could help my neighbor next door" or "There's a group over here that I could help." It's such a broad spectrum and I think that's what I really appreciate about the show. I keep referring back to my charity foundation because never in a million years did I think I'd be able to start a foundation helping people beyond myself and beyond only dwarfism but helping children, youth at risk, other disability groups and helping them see the value and purpose they have in their own life.

I imagine all that trumps the negative.
Oh absolutely. If not, with the challenges we face every day because of who we are, I wouldn't be where I'm at if I let a little negativity effect me.