Portsmouth woman living with ADHD scales Spinnaker Tower for charity

Brave Chantelle Knight, who lives with severe ADHD scaled the Portsmouth landmark on Saturday in a bid to raise funds for Naomi House – which cares for children with life-limiting conditions across Hampshire and other areas – with a target of £1,000.

The hospice is an ‘important’ charity to Chantelle, who has a Go Fund Me page set up for donations, due to her involvement in education and work with neurodiverse children.

And she hopes her adventure down the tower will also challenge people’s perceptions of what can be achieved by those who are neurodiverse, which can include ADHD, autism, dyspraxia and dyslexia.

The 38-year-old said: ‘I want to do this to show young people that you can be successful with ADHD and autism, there needs to be a change in the education of neurodiversity and young people.’

She hopes that the abseil will also raise awareness for the importance of physical activity for mental health. Having taken up martial arts four years ago, physical activity became her saving grace for dealing with her own mental health.

Speaking before her abseil, she said: ‘I couldn’t think of anything worse to do (abseiling).

‘Martial arts has taught me to get out of your comfort zone and do things you wouldn’t usually do and I can do that whilst raising awareness for the charity and inspire young neurodiverse people. I wouldn’t be where I am today without my coaches’

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Lockdown was the first time Chantelle was left to deal with her ADHD alone as an adult. But training for up to nine hours a week at Gym 01 in Portsmouth gave her the outlet needed to get a hold on it. In support for her gym, she wore their signs as she completed the abseil.

‘I am looking forward to it, but also looking forward to having my feet back on the ground.’ she added.

Chantelle was part of a larger group abseiling Spinnaker Tower from 5pm on Saturday.

To donate to her cause visit gofundme.com/f/chantelles-spinnaker-abseil-for-naomi-house.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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