A STUDENT with dwarfism is creating an animation to tackle the social prejudice and unwanted physical and verbal attention he gets because of his height.

Chris Amor, from St John's, Worcester, is working on the short film Living Jokes which he hopes to show at festivals and could be used by disability charities.

Last August, Mr Amor appeared in the Worcester News asking people to stop treating him and others with dwarfism as "freak shows".

Initially, the article had a positive response and he noticed a change in attitudes towards him.

But slowly the harassment began to escalate again to the point where it caused the 27-year-old to change his shifts at a city centre bar so he no longer works nights.

Mr Amor, who is about four foot ten, said: "Things got a bit better and things seemed to ease [after the original article] but then before Christmas I had to stop night shifts.

"I was getting more horrible remarks and other things - people being more physical and taking pictures which I was worried they would put on social media.

"It kind of went back to square one.

"But it did push me and gave me the encouragement to continue trying to change attitudes and create the animation."

Still in the planning process, the animation will be from Mr Amor's perspective and look at all different kinds of body shaming.

"It's not just about not being rude to people but asks people to be more inclusive and looks at issues surrounding ableism.

"I want to look at the way we dehumanise people, like the way people with dwarfism are looked at like objects and they want pictures with us or harass us.

"I'd like to see heightism made the same as racism and other kinds of prejudice which are socially unacceptable."

As well as being photographed and grabbed without his permission, Mr Amor said there are also stumbling blocks when it comes to romantic relationships.

"In heterosexual relationships, people think the man should be taller and I've had people say to me before "why don't you just date another dwarf?"

"They are putting what someone looks like above their personality.

"It really shouldn't matter.

"Attitudes towards LGBT and interracial relationships are now more accepted whereas height is still not - whether its a female being taller than male or couples of extreme height differences such as if one has dwarfism and the other is of average height."

Mr Amor credited Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage with breaking down some of the misconceptions of dwarfism and said he hoped to do even more.

The animation is expected to be completed by the end of summer.

The website, which is still under construction, can be found at thelivingjokes.com.