Man with Dwarfism Speaks Out After Being Picked Up by Strangers While Shopping: 'They Don't See Us as Real People' (Exclusive)

• Aubrey Smalls was in TJ Maxx when he noticed his camera moving and his feet lifting off the ground

• Smalls, a Louisiana-born filmmaker and historian who began his career in the circus industry, assumed it must have been some friends he hadn’t seen in a while playing a prank on him. But when he turned around, he was shocked to see two strangers picking him up

• After the incident, Smalls took to his TikTok account to share what happened, and the video quickly went viral, amassing 2.1 million likes and 19,000 comments

Aubrey Smalls was in TJ Maxx, about to take a photo of a suitcase he was considering purchasing, when he noticed his camera moving, his feet lifting off the ground and the sound of giggling behind him.

In that moment, Smalls, a Louisiana-born filmmaker and historian who began his career in the circus industry, assumed it must have been some friends he hadn’t seen in a while playing a prank on him. But when he turned around, he was shocked to see two strangers picking him up.

"People just feel like they can touch us, and that goes on such a wide spectrum," Smalls, who was born with dwarfism, tells PEOPLE exclusively. "I've experienced it all, unfortunately — from people patting you on the head to being picked up, or even assaulted and touched inappropriately because they think of you in a way that I can't quite understand."

"There have been people with dwarfism who have been paralyzed, seriously injured or even passed away because someone recklessly picked them up or manhandled them," he continues. "I just think it’s really important to mix education with things like this. I can’t tell you how many times a week I see a video with millions of likes that's just about that."

Related: Model, 28, with Limb Difference Carries Her Prosthetic Legs in Public After Years Feeling 'Ashamed' (Exclusive)

After the incident, Smalls, 27, took to his TikTok account to share what happened, and the video quickly went viral, amassing 19 million views and 19,000 comments. Reading through the comments, he says it was uplifting to see the TikTok community rally behind him and acknowledge that what happened wasn’t okay.

"committing egregious wrongs and then saying "it's all good" as if they're letting YOU off the hook - HELLO?," one person commented.

"People are most definitely NOT okay. People are very weird and like to cross boundaries no matter who it is. I’m sorry that happened to you ☹️," someone else wrote.

Another person replied, "Omg that’s actually terrifying.. why would anyone do that to a stranger?? I’m so sorry."

"Many people have tied it back to similar situations I've talked about or things they've seen themselves," Smalls says. "They’ve said things like, 'Oh, is that why people do this?' or 'I’ve never thought about it like that,' or even, 'I’ve seen someone do that before and didn’t know what to say.' It’s really encouraging to see people reflect on these moments."

"That’s why it’s important to talk about these things, even though it can be uncomfortable — no one wants to go online and share a story about being picked up without consent in the middle of a store while being filmed," he adds. "But I do believe the benefits outweigh the discomfort. I hope that when people see that video going viral, it shows them that if they think it's funny to do something like that, they might not get the reaction they expect."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Smalls tells PEOPLE that this "isn’t the first time" an incident like this has occurred, which is why he began speaking out on social media and sharing the untold stories of the dwarfism community through his viral web series, Dwarfism History.

Eventually he shifted his focus toward writing, and a couple of years ago began working on a documentary titled Dear Average Height People alongside a group of producers. The documentary-comedy special will explore the history of dwarfism through interviews and artistic vignettes and will feature a cast of artists with dwarfism.

"As I grew more in the entertainment industry, auditioned more and met other little people in the field, I became increasingly aware of how many talented individuals were being overlooked," he says. "I just thought, wow, there are so many talented people who aren't being seen for who they truly are. Instead, they're being judged based on their body types, and I just think that's crazy."

"I felt it was really important to create authentic representation — representation that was created by us and involved us," Smalls explains. "A lot of the time, shows and movies about little people feature objectifying roles or harmful portrayals, yet little people are often completely absent from the creative process."

Looking back on the experience at TJ Maxx, Smalls hopes to use the opportunity to educate others and remind others that people with dwarfism don’t want to be separated or treated as a spectacle — and that there are amazing people like him doing incredible things in the world.

"I think it's not fair for anyone to feel like they have to go outside and be on guard, not knowing if someone is secretly filming them just to get views on the Internet, where the whole point is to say, 'Look at this freak,' or whatever," he says. "In my case, the person who did it was like, 'You're so adorable.' I was like, 'Please leave me alone, that's so inappropriate.' But they wouldn't even talk to me like a person — they just kept repeating the same infantilizing phrases. It's like they don't see us as real people, and that’s where the danger lies."

"I think sometimes we’re so used to this idea that everything can go online and that anything we find funny should be posted on public platforms," he adds. "I saw so many people stitching my video and going viral, talking about how average-height, able-bodied people are speaking out correctly about the condition. People are calling out how weird it was, and from there, discourse is happening."

"It’s like a tree that’s sprouted many branches and leaps, and I think it’s doing a lot of good," he continues. "I just hope that by sharing this story, we can remind people that little people are regular, normal people — your neighbors, people who work in all different fields and who exist in the same world that we do."

Read the original article on People