Heidi Crowter sets world record recalling celeb birthdays - bbc.com

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By Andrew Dawkins

BBC News, West Midlands

Disability rights campaigner Heidi Crowter has set a world record for identifying the most celebrity birthdays in three minutes.

The 27-year-old recalled 70 in under 180 seconds, from Queen Victoria to pop star Shakira.

Her achievement came under a Guinness World Records initiative allowing reasonable adjustments for attempts to better include those with a disability.

Ms Crowter said she had been "writing a birthday list and practising a lot".

Under the rules, her mother Liz would call out names from a randomised list of 100 celebrities and she was asked to identify the correct birthday - day and month.

Ms Crowter said she loved "sharing my joy of birthdays with people" and was "feeling very proud of myself".

"If I can set a world record, I know that means I can do anything I set my mind to," she said.

The records organisation announced her achievement at the start of Learning Disability Awareness Week.

PA Media/Mencap

Ms Crowter's record - the most celebrity birthdays identified in three minutes (II) - was achieved under Guinness World Records' new impairments initiative, developed alongside Mencap, in the intellectual impairment (II) category.

The charity said she recalled the birthdays, "from Queen Victoria and Margaret Thatcher to Brad Pitt and Shakira, without hesitation".

She was described by Guinness World Records as a Mencap "myth buster" who wanted to challenge misconceptions about learning disability and to campaign for change.

Last month, the 27-year-old, who has challenged legislation allowing foetuses with Down's syndrome to be aborted up until birth, said she was taking her case to the European Court of Human Rights.

In November last year judges at the Court of Appeal decided the Abortion Act did not interfere with the rights of the living disabled.

Under legislation in England, Wales and Scotland, there is a 24-week time limit for abortion, unless "there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped", which includes Down's syndrome.

Ms Crowter said she was taking her case to the Strasbourg court "because it is downright discrimination that people with disabilities are treated differently".

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