An eight-year-old schoolgirl with Down Syndrome is now leading the way as one of the country's youngest models.
Grace Wharton, from Moreton , was diagnosed with Down Syndrome 10 days before she was born.
Her mother, Cheryl Wharton, said she and her partner tried for a long time to conceive Grace and were only told just shortly before her birth that she had the condition.
She said: "When I found out I cried for a day but then I told myself 'she's still going to be our little girl'."
Grace was also born with oesophageal atresia, a rare birth defect that affects a baby's oesophagus, and spent the first few months of her life receiving treatment at Alder Hey.
However the schoolgirl, from Wirral , has since come on leaps and bounds and aged just six she started modelling and became one the youngest models with Down syndrome in the country.
And since then Grace has featured on campaigns for big names such as Disney, Marks & Spencer, Very , and the BBC.
Mum Cheryl said: "People have such a negative perception of Down syndrome.
"People have such outdated views.
"It's really important for her to see people like herself in the media.
"Grace has always been a performer.
"Her best thing that she loves doing is to do a performance for you."
Grace has just finished work on a major supermarket advert that is soon to be released and is working on a campaign to change public perceptions about people with Down Syndrome.
Mum Cheryl said with the right support "there is nothing a child with Down Syndrome can't achieve".
Cheryl added: "With Grace's modelling, we wanted to show the positive side.
"She absolutely loves being a model. She's always thrilled to see herself on TV.
"When she goes into school, her classmates all come up to her and say, 'Grace, I saw you on the tele'.
"She absolutely loves it.
"She's the most beautiful, funniest, mischievous little girl.
"I wouldn't change a thing about her."
