DWARFISM campaigner Danielle Webb has been named as the winner of the Pride of Gwent Diversity in the Community Award.

Ms Webb, 24, is a youth worker for Newport arts group Urban Circle, and is vice chairperson of charity Little People UK.

On Wednesday, October 25, she hosted the first official Dwarfism Awareness Day in Wales - the first such event at any Parliament in the UK.

Speaking at the event, Ms Webb said: “There are around 7,000 people in the UK with dwarfism and usually I’m the only one in the room. Not tonight. I’ve got my team around me."

Ms Webb reminded the audience that 80 per cent of people with the most common form of dwarfism, achondroplasia, are born to average height parents.

South Wales Argus: Danielle Webb

“Everyone in front of me tonight is average height,” she said. “This could become your world at any time. It became my mum’s world when she had me.

“I’ve never seen anyone from my community flying the flag for Dwarfism Awareness Day. Only in my circles: Maindee Primary, Urban Circle, Newport – and now Wales.”

She joked: “We’re all looking smart tonight. You have no idea how long it took me to find something that fits. I thought I was going to have to dress up in my dance gear.”

Members of Little People UK - of which Star Wars actor Warwick Davis is president - want to get clear and well-informed dwarfism literature in every hospital and offer awareness training to schools and businesses.

The Cardiff Bay crowd comprised diversity campaigners, company bosses, Newport councillors and a Nottingham headteacher who asked to ask Ms Webb to sign copies of her book – Mummy, There’s a New Girl – for her school.

South Wales Argus: L-R: Rebecca Nuttall, Andy Moyes, Danielle Webb, Jayne Bryant MS, Andrew Smith

The event was sponsored by Jayne Bryant, MS for Newport West.

Speaking on the challenges she faces in her daily life, Ms Webb said: “I know one post box in Newport that I can reach.

"It’s scary going to new places. I have to think about whether I can reach the door handle.

"I look around this room and see so many safe faces. That’s why you’re in here. Out there – it’s not like that. We wouldn’t share this out there."

She added: “We plan and we cope, but so much of that has come from being knocked down and learning how to get back up again.

South Wales Argus: Pride of Gwent Awards 2023

“We have a team of nine and we work incredibly hard, but the workload is too big now."

Asked about her ambitions for Dwarfism Awareness Day in 2024, Ms Webb replied: “I don’t want it to be us next year. I want us to come to what you’re doing.”

The Pride of Gwent Awards ceremony takes place on Thursday, December 7, at Rodney Parade.