Snap! Caroline wins

10:12pm Wednesday 14th May 2008

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A YOUNG woman with severe learning difficulties has snapped up a national award.

Caroline Purnell, 23, from Cheney Manor Road, won a gold award in Mencap's national photography competition, Snap.

Caroline's picture won a gold award in the Through My Eyes category. Her photo, entitled Is That Me?, shows Caroline looking at herself in the mirror.

Her mother, Sarah, entered the photo in the competition with a note that read: "This is a picture of my daughter Caroline. She has severe learning difficulties and epilepsy.

"She has at least one seizure a day.

"Caroline has no speech but talks with her expressions and leading me to what she wants.

"What I love most about her is her smile when a person speaks to her. She will go right up to their face and look so intently into their eyes, and study them.

"She is so gentle and placid and when you really get to know her you cannot help but love her."

As well as winning a Fujifilm digital camera, Caroline's photo will be on display at the Proud Camden gallery in London, from June 19 until July 6.

She will also be invited to a glittering awards ceremony at the gallery, where she will rub shoulders with some of Mencap's celebrity supporters.

Sarah said: "I wanted to enter the photo because it was a really nice picture of Caroline. We have lots of photos of her all over the house and we use pictures a lot to communicate with her.

"She seemed to like this picture - and she certainly knew it was her.

"I was absolutely delighted when it won because I hadn't had a particularly good month and it was nice to get a bit of good news for a change.

"I hope we can take her to the gallery, although it's not easy as she's not used to travelling long distances."

Snap, which is run by the disability charity, Mencap, is now in its sixth year.

It showcases the talents of people with a learning disability through photographs and inspiring stories to increase understanding of learning disability by those closest to it.

To see this year's winners and for more information on Snap visit www.mencap.org.uk/snap.