DESPITE being autistic, a beautiful 16-year-old girl from Flixton has become Miss Teen, Manchester in the Miss Teen Great Britain contest.

She sent in pictures and answered online questionnaires to reach the semi-final.

Now a finalist, Mikah Miskimin, who attends Rossendale School, is looking to raise £2000 for Together for Short Lives, a charity which helps hospices.

She has sold cakes, opened a Just Giving page and is having a stall at school to raise funds.

She also has to appear in public.

At a play by Canterbury Players, she met the Mayor, Councillor Judith Lloyd, and her consort, Noelle Ryder, and has had her picture taken at Heartbeat at the Opera House and Capitol Radio.

She even visited the Marlborough Road allotments in Flixton.

Mikah said: “The Miss Greaat Britain final, on October 24 and 25 at the Globe Theatre, Blackpool, is not a beauty contest but it helps if you look nice.”

Competitors nationwide will spend the first morning team building and end the day with a fun pyjama party.

On the next day, there will be interviews but the climax will come in the evening.

They will wear fun fashions, dance in red, white and blue and, in the grand finale, parade in glamorous dresses.

Mikah said|: “The event will give me back my confidence. I used to dance but gave it up.”

She was diagnosed with autism 18 months ago.

“My friends don’t know me as a girl with autism, they just know me as me.

“I want to be a role model for teenagers with difficulties,” she said. “I want to tell them that it doesn’t stop you from doing things.”

Her grandmother, Ann Miskimin, 60. said: “Her mum, Olivia, and I, are very proud of her.”

* Mikah’s Just Giving page is justgiving.com/fundraising/Mikah-Miskimin