A BARNSLEY MP has spoken out after revealing she battled against anorexia as a teenager having struggled to come to terms with her disability.

Marie Tidball, who represents Penistone and Stocksbridge, was born with a congenital disability which affects all four limbs.

She has foreshortened arms and legs, with one digit on each hand, and has been a strong voice for disabled residents.

During the debate for International Women’s Day in Parliament, Marie opened up about her own experience of anorexia as a teenager, describing it as a way to cope with her disability as she navigated her body image growing up.

She was anorexic for a four-year period from the age of 14 - but it wasn’t until her mid-20s that she had a ‘healthy relationship’ with food.

Marie read out some passages she had written when she was in her early 20s, over two decades ago, whilst recovering from her last major surgery to her legs.

She said: “When they amputated my leg, they amputated a part of me.

“I saw my body and I felt disgust, repulsion.

“I feared that my amputation took away my femininity, my ability to be yearned for, my womanhood pauperised, trapped in a body that did not reflect my mind or myself.

“Anorexia, unplanned, like an addiction, crept upon me - I ate less and became thinner.

“My wish was that nobody would notice my disability and I would simply disappear - a physical escapism.

“For the first time in my life, the eating disorder gave me control over my body, the way it looked, the way it felt.

“My frustration about my physical form turned into obsession - the obsession fed me where food did not and it gave me power.

“Success became feeling bones left behind under taut skin, in knowing my pelvis protruded below a small waist, cheek bones were prominent on a smile-less face.”

Marie’s weight plummeted to just under five stones but it wasn’t until a health scare that she started to eat more.

“My body was breaking down, I was losing my hair and my periods stopped - my menstruation ending ultimately saved me,” she added.

“Somewhere, at the back of my head, I knew I wanted to have children.

“Eventually, I took the pill, my periods started again and I ate more.

“My desire to be a mother gave me a reason to get better and signalled a future.

“Devastatingly, two decades after, social attitudes towards sex, relationships and disability remain an enormous taboo which means disabled women are still going through this anguish, damaging their mental health, causing them to self-harm and erode their self-esteem.”

Attitudes and the lack of awareness of these issues are also leading disabled women to face barriers in public services including accessing sexual and reproductive health and maternity care, according to Marie, who highlighted that in maternity care, this results in a 44 per cent higher risk of stillbirth for disabled mothers.

Marie went onto tell MPs that she has she has ‘lost count’ of the number of disabled people she has ended up mentoring, who have self-harmed or attempted suicide because of these issues and the lack of services and expertise.

She also highlighted about the experiences of a number of other disabled women she has spoken to, who have had similar experiences linked to their own body image and identity, as well as barriers in accessing high-quality healthcare as disabled women.

Marie called for the government to include push further to include representation of disabled people in PSHE lessons in schools as part of curriculum reforms.

“It was a vulnerable moment to speak out but an important moment to stand up about my own experience of anorexia and mental health, as one of the only visibly disabled MPs in Parliament,” she told the Chronicle.

“I know I am not alone - I made my speech in Parliament feeling the weight of responsibility of 16 million disabled people stood or sat behind me.

“I want to use my place in the House of Commons to give a voice to other disabled women who have felt like me.

“Disability must no longer be cast as absence, but complete full-bodied presence.

“To be loved is to be seen - it is high time our society sees disabled women’s whole selves.

“For only then, will we create a society which treats us with the dignity and respect we deserve.

“I’ll keep working with other incredible disabled women to change the provision of mental health, sexual and reproductive healthcare, and maternity care services for disabled women and girls that is so desperately needed, and to change public attitudes and break down barriers for us all.”