Young autistic woman from Sunderland celebrates triple medal success at karate European Championships

Katelyn Hibbert, 21, hopes her medal success will inspire other autistic people.

Transcript

00:00Okay, I can't understand, you've been out in Warsaw representing Great Britain competing

00:04in the European Championships for Karate, so just show me your medals and what did you

00:09win?

00:10So this silver one was for team fighting, I was in a team with two other girls and we

00:17managed to get silver.

00:19This one was also a team but it was a rotation which means tag in and out and fight and this

00:27one was for my individual fighting, that's what I fought for.

00:32I understand it was the first time you competed in the adult section, so what was the experience

00:38like and how pleased are we with your performance?

00:40It was very tough, you can tell the difference in, you know, what's the words, capabilities,

00:48like different...

00:49Levels of experience as well?

00:51Yeah, different experience and yeah, it was very tough but I'm happy with what I came

00:57away with.

00:58I know you're autistic as well and it's one of the things you hope to do by going to these

01:03competitions and achieving what you are, do you hope to inspire other people who are autistic

01:06that, you know, they can also be successful and go on and achieve things?

01:09Yeah, absolutely, like just because you're autistic doesn't mean you can't do what you

01:15want to do.

01:16I never thought that, because there's different categories for people with disabilities but

01:24I thought, you know, I don't want to just be put in one category, I want to push myself

01:30and go into a different category and show that I can do what other people can.

01:36And is it your release as well, you're in the arena competing, is that your release

01:39from, you haven't got a label anymore, yeah?

01:42Exactly, yeah.

01:43And obviously you were sponsored by Herdman Chemists, so why were you so keen to get involved

01:48in sponsoring and supporting Caitlin?

01:50We've known Caitlin for a while and it was just something that me and my business partner

01:55were looking to get involved with, like initiatives in the rural community, This Fit The Bill,

02:00and we're just really, really proud of her, really, really proud and it's gone even better

02:05than we could have imagined between the two of us, so we're all very happy.

02:09Could you do it without the support of Herdman Chemists?

02:12I wouldn't have been able to get these if they didn't help me, I wouldn't have been

02:18able to go over that, so thanks to them.