A woman living with cerebral palsy told media she hopes to inspire people with disabilities by competing for the title of Miss Great Britain.
The BBC reported that Shannon McNally’s condition affects her mobility, sometimes leaving parts of her body “just unable to work”.
BBC online added that Shannon was crowned Miss Black Country in July, and said she was “proud and honoured” to be competing for the national title.
The Miss GB competition will take place in Leicester from 21 October. Shannon is not the first person with cerebral palsy to be shortlisted but she said she aims to change the wider pageant industry and reduce the stigma of disabled people competing.
She told the BBC she had been working with charities and was in the process of setting up her own, aimed at helping young people with hidden disabilities.
She added: “I want to be one of the first Miss GB winners to have cerebral palsy and achieve something, not only for myself but for the disabled community to show we can achieve things that maybe years ago people would have never thought a disabled contestant would have been able to enter.”
Metro.co.uk reported that Shannon, who is 22 and comes from Coseley in the West Midlands, was diagnosed with a form of the condition known as asymmetric diplegia as a child, meaning “one day only my left arm could work and my right leg won’t, and then vice versa”. She also has fibromyalgia.
Shannon told journalists that as a youngster she found it hard to fit in at school, , sometimes feeling like an “outcast”.
She said: “I’ve had to wear every type of cast and splint and all the different aids which the disabled community will know of. I was judged or looked at differently – whereas now I just think my disability is a part of me and it’s never going to go away.
“So rather than try and hide it, I want to embrace it and this is what my message is to others, to hopefully inspire them to do the same.”
