Madeline Stuart becomes ambassador for social inclusion

MADELINE Stuart is not your average teen model. For starters, she tends to give photographers and make-up artists a surprising number of hugs and high-fives.

And the petite 18-year-old has three holes in her heart, a leaky valve, and Down syndrome.

The teenager has been hailed as the first professional adult model with the condition, and her smile is becoming ubiquitous across social media and magazines.

Later this month she is appearing on the catwalk at New York Fashion Week. It will be only the third catwalk Madeline has ever graced, but the teen is completely unfazed.

"She's meant to get on the catwalk and look a certain way," her mum and manager Rosanne Stuart says.

Read more on the ABC.