Kelly Knox Is Best Disabled Model

Meet Kelly Knox, a model living in England who is missing her left forearm.Kelly recently won the BBC3 competition and is now the UK’s best disabled model. She has won a contract with the Take 2 Model Management agency and a photo shoot in an upcoming issue of Marie Claire.

Kelly Knox is 23 years old and lives with her mother in London. She was born without a left forearm, a condition that is not genetic, but was rather characterized as a mistake. At age 7, she vowed never to wear a prosthetic arm, and she hasn’t. She currently works for a soft furnishings company as a credit controller, but would love to be modeling instead.

In 2008, Kelly entered Britain’s Missing Top Model contest featuring girls with disabilities ranging from deafness, brain injury, and other physical impairments. She was chosen as the winner on July 29, 2008.Of her missing arm, Kelly says,“In my household we don’t use the word disabled. Never have done, never will do. I don’t feel disabled but society will label me as being disabled. … ‘I know it sounds really strange but the only time I get the hump is when I get a piece of tough meat on my plate and I can’t get into it.”