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Academic Debra Keenahan has revealed how she parents while having dwarfism
Despite being told her chances of conceiving were slim she's mother to Sarah, 18
On The Today Show Debra revealed the unique perspective she brings to the role

Published: 01:09 EST, 8 November 2018 | Updated: 01:12 EST, 8 November 2018

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She's an academic, an artist and a mother to an 18-year-old girl - but for Debra Keenahan there was a time fulfilling these roles was thought to be impossible.

Debra, 56, was born with dwarfism, a condition considered by some to be incompatible with parenthood.

However, despite being told the chances of conceiving were 'slim', she's now the proud mother of Sarah - a competitive swimmer, driver and recent high school graduate - who also has dwarfism.

Appearing on the Today Show, Sydney-based Debra revealed the realities of parenting with a disability - and the unique perspective she brings to the role.

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She's an academic, an artist and a mother to an 18-year-old girl - but for Debra Keenahan there was a time fulfilling of the roles was thought to be impossible

However, despite being told the chances of conceiving were 'slim', she's now the proud mother of Sarah (right) - a competitive swimmer, driver and recent high school graduate - who also has dwarfism

'Parenting with a disability actually impacts everybody because as a parent you’re responsible for how your child responds to everybody so getting your child to support difference is the most important thing,' she said.

'I think as a parent I helped Sarah with compassion, understanding, patience and drive.'

In fact, she told the program's host Georgie Gardner how Sarah didn't even realise the pair were different until she was eight years old.

'(In that moment, Sarah) realised we were different, significantly different and were going to remain that way,' Debra revealed.

'(In that moment, Sarah) realised we were different, significantly different and were going to remain that way,' Debra revealed of her now-18-year-old daughter's realisation she was a dwarf

'I think as a parent what I helped Sarah with compassion, understanding, patience and drive,' Debra told The Today Show

'We went past a group of teenagers who can sometimes be the cruelest and they made comments and reacted to us and she said it was at that point she realised.'

Interestingly, during the interview Debra revealed 80 per cent of people with her type of dwarfism, Achondroplasia were born to parents who did not have dwarfism.

However, many people with the condition, like Debra, go on to live long and healthy lives and enjoy the thrills of parenthood themselves.

'My dwarfism does not disable me. What disables me is people's attitudes to the dwarfism,' she told ABC previously.

The doting mother actively works to challenge stereotypes and uses the 'personal and social impacts of disability' as a focus in her art.

According to her Big Anxiety profile, Debra also lectures at Western Sydney University in Humanitarian and Development Studies and her first PhD was in Psychology on the subject of Dehumanization.

Her research focuses upon developing a 'Critical Disability Aesthetic through the representation of the female dwarf'.