Janice Tillett will swim 1.3 miles across Windermere

A former international swimmer who lost her sight and most of her hearing has become the first deaf and blind person to swim across Lake Windermere.

Janice Tillett, who won two silver medals at the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics, said she was "really pleased" she had achieved her aim.

The 31-year-old from Northampton swam the 1.3 mile stretch in 50 minutes, accompanied by another swimmer who can see and hear.

She praised her support swimmer, Tom Scott, who directed her using touch and a series of taps, through the "extremely cold" water.

"I had a very good support swimmer in Tom", she said.

"The hardest thing wasn't the physical swimming, it was the concentration.

"When you get cold you get disorientated. I couldn't get a sense of direction".

Special wetsuit

Ms Tillett prepared for the challenge by covering the distance in a swimming pool on a regular basis.

She also had a few practice sessions in open water at a diving lake, to get an idea of the changes in temperature and choppiness of the water.

She wore a special wetsuit to provide warmth and protection in the water.

Ms Tillett did the swim to raise awareness of deaf blindness and raise money for the Deafblind UK charity, which she has been involved with for three years.

"It doesn't matter what impairment you have - if you have that level of support you can achieve anything," she said.

Ms Tillett has won 31 medals in the course of her international swimming career, including two silver medals in the 4x100m medley relay and 4x100m freestyle relay in the Barcelona Paralympics in 1992.