Billy Barty, Founder
October 25, 1924 - December 23, 2000
Our wonderful friend passed away peacefully in his sleep after a brief illness. The Barty Family and all of us at the Billy Barty Foundation thank you for your prayers in this time of great sorrow. We mourn the passing of this great humanitarian and thank God for the privilege of having known His humble servant.
Please feel free to contact us via phone, fax, mail, or e-mail. Your messages of comfort will be forwarded to the Barty Family promptly.
This message is straight from Billy's heart:
Hi, I'm Billy Barty. Welcome to our Webpage!!
I'm sure many of you are wondering what we're all about. For those of you who typed in the word "dwarf" on your search engine expecting to find the Disney homepage, stick around. You'll learn something and maybe even find a chance to do a good deed!
I am a dwarf. This means I was born with a medically recognized condition that makes my body smaller than the average person's. The name of my condition is Cartilage Hair Syndrome Hypoplasia, but you can just call me Billy.
Most of us with dwarfism prefer to be described as "Little People". And please, put the emphasis on the word "People." We did not spring from the pages of a storybook or emerge from an enchanted forest. We are not magical beings and we are not monsters. We are parents and sons and daughters. We are doctors and lawyers and realtors and teachers. We dream, cry, laugh, shout, fall in love, and make mistakes. We are no different from you.
Dwarfism is a condition that affects over 1.5 million people in the U.S. alone, and there are over 100 different types of dwarfism. Most Little People are born to families with no history of dwarfism. Even today, in the most open-minded and prejudice-intolerant society ever in recorded human history, people with dwarfism are still subjected to degrading stereotypes, societal barriers, and attitudinal barriers. We endure everything from job discrimination and reduced social opportunities to physical abuse and open public ridicule on a daily basis.
Founded in 1975, The Billy Barty Foundation (BBF) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations funded by contributions from individuals, corporations, and charitable organizations.
The Billy Barty Foundation's mission is to guarantee an acceptable and improved quality of life for Little People through education, employment, accessibility and athletic programs. It is our primary objective to eliminate attitudinal barriers, myths and false negative stereotypes of Little People by providing society examples of achievement and inspiration, and for the dissemination of information to the general public at large as well as to Little People and their families. The Foundation strives to assist people of short stature to live more independently and productively, and is committed to develop unique and necessary accomodations and services.
We operate out of a 3-room office in Burbank, California. We are fortunate to have such a great team, and our wonderful volunteers are too many to list here. Our expenses are minimal and we do this because we are dedicated to devoting every cent we can to helping Little People.
Our main humanitarian work is our scholarship fund, but we try so hard to help out in any way we can. We have helped people pay for accommodations when loved ones needed surgery far from home. We have provided job training. We have been hours on the phone soothing anguished parents and grandparents of newborn LP's. Once we provided a special bed for a terminally ill LP who kept falling out of his standard hospital bed. And I remember a beautiful little boy whose fingers were too short to hold a pencil. All the kids at school laughed at him. We acquired a second-hand computer for him and soon he was turning in the neatest homework in class.
There is need, and it is real.
The Billy Barty Foundation has a scholarship fund to help promising college students who have a medical form of dwarfism. Each year, our main fund-raiser for this program is the Billy Barty Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic. You will be delighted to know that some of your favorite celebrities, and mine, are such generous and unselfish people who care deeply about others.
Many, many thanks to Tim Nomer, who has generously provided us space on his server. God bless you, Tim!
Provided here are links to some organizations which deal with dwarfism:
Our address here is:
The Billy Barty Foundation
929 W. Olive Ave
Suite C
Burbank, CA 91506
phone 818-953-5410
E-mail the Foundation: --->Billy Barty Foundation e-mail
Our page is growing! Keep an eye out for updates! Thanks for visiting.