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Danielle is the Author of a children ' s book , " Mummy There ' s a New Girl " that highlights diversity and teaches that it ' s ok to be different .
I always had doubts of whether university was for me , because everyone around me who I saw achieving their life goals were all twice my height .
Danielle and family
Life with dwarfism
I am the only person in my family to have dwarfism and what many people don ' t know is 80 % of people with dwarfism are born to average height families . I was one of those 80 %. So , until the age of 13 , I was the only person with dwarfism that I knew and saw . And that , being a teenage girl especially , did bring challenges with my self-esteem .
I loved primary school . I loved learning - and still do , but primary school was great for me because my size wasn ' t too noticeable . All children are small , so I didn ' t notice too much and neither did my peers . I found making friends was very easy in primary school and learning was the main focus for me . In secondary school however , I was the smallest amongst 2000 pupils , even when I was
in my final year - I was still the smallest . This was when I felt I really started to learn what life with dwarfism was like - and it was hard at times . I did experience bullying for a few years and found it very hard to find a circle in which i fitted in - like i think a lot of secondary school students do regardless of their physical makeup , but having a physical difference made that even more emphasised .