Madeline Stuart is the world’s first professional adult model with Down syndrome, but hers is much more than a teenage Cinderella story.
Madeline Stuart is the world’s first professional adult model with Down syndrome, but hers is much more than a teenage Cinderella story.
Madeline Stuart, a 19-year-old teen model, is undoubtedly australia’s girl of the moment. In May last year, a photograph posted on social media by her mother plucked this auburn-haired teenager with Down syndrome from relative obscurity and thrust her into the international spotlight with the message that her deepest ambition was to become a model.
Then four months later, Madeline wasn’t just walking down the catwalk. She was in New york as the world’s first professional model with Down syndrome to take a headline role in New york Fashion Week, one of the most prestigious fashion events on the planet.
More than that, Madeline and her mothermanager, Rosanne, have garnered several commercial modeling contracts with big-name fashion brands and along the way, Madeline picked up an award from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation in the US as international model of the year.
After New york Fashion Week, Madeline was booked for events in Italy, Russia, the US, Germany, Sweden and France, among others, and she has a burgeoning fan base that boasts more than 600,00 Internet devotees eagerly following every step of her journey.
As a result of all the exposure, Madeline, who turns 20 later this year, now finds herself held up as the poster girl for a worldwide movement towards the normalisation of disability, a movement that has gathered pace during the past few years.
The young girls on Instagram are all looking at her and saying they want to be like her
Role Model
“There are a lot of beautiful boys and girls out there with Down syndrome, but Maddy stands out,” says Rosanne, 43. “I may be biased but I think she is stunning. She wanted to be on the catwalk and then, when she lost some weight, I suggested we get some professional photos done and made a profile page for her on Facebook. It went viral within a week.”
Rosanne says that she knows Maddy will probably never be a model with the success of Miranda Kerr. “But that is not the point,” she says. “The point is that she wanted to become a model and she did – and that will have positive effects for Maddy for the rest of her life. The reality is that Madeline will miss out on experiences that the rest of us have – so I want her to live her life as fully as possible.”
Maddy’s presence in the modeling world is already having an effect on the way people see those with Down syndrome. “The young girls on Instagram are all looking at her and saying they want to be like her,” Rosanne says. “Our younger generation is going to grow up with that mindset, instead of using the R-word [retarded] or laughing at people with disabilities, which is what it was like when I was growing up.”
Associate Professor Karen Fisher from the University of New South Wales believes that whether or not Madeline’s New york adventure and Instagram success is sustained is of no real consequence. “Madeline is just like anyone who has a goal,” she says. “Whether or not it actually goes on from here is almost irrelevant.”
Sending A Positive Message
Certainly the visibility in the australian media of children with Down syndrome has improved markedly in the past few years. It started several years ago with a little boy from Perth, Julius Panetta, who was chosen by Brisbane-based children’s clothing label Eeni Meeni Miini Moh to appear in its catalogues and ad campaigns.
“Every time we see the face of a person with a disability in the media, it sends a message that they are as much a part of our world as everyone else,” says Cate Sayers, founder of Melbourne’s Down syndrome dance troupe e.motion21. “It helps to break down that fear that many seem to have about interacting with people with disabilities.”
However, what this actually means for Madeline and her future is something no one can predict. While her fledgling career is soaring now, fashion can be a fickle business at best and it might not always be that way. What then? The uncertainty won’t stop Madeline.
“The opportunity is here and now,” says Rosanne. “It’s what Maddy wants to do and, as her mother, I am not going to deny her that opportunity. I am conscious of the fact that it might all fall over. It could fall over tomorrow. If that is what happens, then so be it.” “
All a mother wants is for her children to be happy and that is what I want for Maddy. Maddy will always have that experience. No one can take it away from her – not now, not ever.”
