article_snippet.sent: Hattie Gladwell said: 'At first, I was scared I wouldn't be able to live a normal life.
article_snippet.sent: I was scared of what people would think, and how I could go on to hide what people would think.
article_snippet.sent: At only 19, there is so much pressure to be attractive to society that I wasn't sure I would cope with something that wasn't deemed "normal".'
article_snippet.sent: I've become more confident after choosing to embrace her body. '
article_snippet.sent: Including putting on a bikini for the first time.
article_snippet.sent: But although I started off feeling self-conscious
article_snippet.sent: I quickly realised that this is the body that I will be living with, and that if I wanted to do things deemed as "normal" I needed to get over any flaws I feel are there.'
article_snippet.sent: I decided to wear a bikini because I remembered how good I felt wearing a bikini last year - my first ever bikini that I'd had the courage to buy after being so body conscious for so long. '
article_snippet.sent: So I wore the bikini that made me feel beautiful last year, and instead of falling two steps back, I moved one step further towards that self esteem I so desperately want to maintain.'