WHEN Francesca Martinez was two years old, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. She prefers to call it "being wobbly".

Today Francesca is a successful comic, writer and actress, but as a teenager her self esteem took a battering when she tried to fit in with society's idea of what is normal. When she decided to reject this and accept herself for who she was, she says her life was transformed.

Francesca explores her refusal to be pigeon-holed in her funny, moving memoir, called What the **** is Normal? She calls it neither an autobiography nor a self-help book, but a powerful call-to-arms against cultural perceptions of normality.

Next month she brings her one-woman show based on the book to Bradford Literature Festival.

"People take 'normal' for granted but if you think about it no-one is normal," says Francesca 37. "That was an empowering thing to realise."

As a child, despite feeling a "vague unease" walking with what she would come to call her "wobble", Francesca enjoyed a happy childhood in a loving family. She sailed through primary school, but moving to an all-girls high school brought insecurities.

"It came as a shock to realise I wasn't what other people regarded as normal," says Francesca. "I went through adolescence with no self-confidence, obsessed with trying to be 'normal'."

Her confidence was given a boost when, aged 14, she landed a role in Grange Hill, which she was in for five years. In 1999 she reluctantly joined a comedy workshop as research for a role. Standing on stage, terrified, she addressed her "wobbliness" with humour and was delighted to find she was making the audience laugh. It turned out to be a lightbulb moment.

"I had no desire to be a comic but discovered, to my horror, that it was liberating," she says. "I remember being on stage thinking, 'This is for me'. Presenting myself in an honest, open way, I realised how powerful comedy can be in terms of tackling something potentially awkward. I was hooked.

"Comedy is a great medium for difficult subjects; you can talk about them in a lighthearted way, it's an ice-breaker. Because the audience are being entertained, they don't realise they're being challenged too.

"If you stand in front of a bunch of strangers and you're nervous and embarrassed it sets a tone. In being open, you're accepting yourself publicly."

Today Francesca is an award-winning comedian who has had sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Festival and around the world. Her acting credits include Extras and Holby City, and she's a regular on Radio 4's News Quiz.

A tireless human rights campaigner, she has organised charity shows featuring comics such as Jo Brand, Stewart Lee and Rhod Gilbert, and in 2012 she launched the War on Welfare campaign, amassing a 100,000-name petition calling for an end to disability benefit cuts and an impact assessment of welfare changes.

Despite her success, she says she has tried in vain to land her own TV show, and is never invited onto TV comedy panel shows. "Those shows are run by men and are pretty much male exclusive, apart from the occasional token woman guest," says Francesca. "The few women that appear on them usually aren't even comedians. Comedy shouldn't be gender-based, but we haven't moved on from 30 or 40 years ago.

"I can't even get onto The Last Leg! (Channel 4 comedy show featuring comics with disabilities, often tackling disability issues). If there's one show on telly I should be on, you'd think it would be that one."

In her stage show, Francesca recalls poignant moments from her adolescence, explores the notion of 'normal' and celebrates being happy with who we are.

"Confidence and happiness comes from self-acceptance," she says. "We aspire to the notion of 'normality' but it's corosive.

"My life was transformed when I chucked out society's definition out and embraced who I am. I used to feel self-conscious because of how I walked, but now I see that's simply my walk. I used to hate my body - now I celebrate it for giving me life."

Francesca lays much of the blame for young women's low self esteem with magazines promoting unattainable images.

"They send out a message that we're not good enough as we are, that we have to conform to an impossible ideal. It's nothing to do with being disabled, it's unhealthy images that have a toxic effect," she says. "They perpetuate the myth that it's normal to look like Beyonce. Physical perfection is linked to happiness, but it's an airbrushed reality based on consumerism."

She adds: "Social media encourages comparison; people take endless selfies and become obsessed with their own image. It's superficial and negative. "Comparing myself to others made me very unhappy. I became happy when I stopped focusing on my 'imperfections' and realised how lucky I was - I have a great family and I'm not living in poverty or conflict, or without adequate food and water."

Despite her misgivings about social media, she welcomes the immediate reaction to gigs from people she's inspired. "I love that connection, it's lovely when people say I've made a difference," she says.

* Francesca Martinez presents her show, followed by a discussion of her book, at Mind the Gap Studios, Lister Mills, Manningham, on Friday, May 15 at 7.30pm. Suitable for over-16s.

For tickets call (01274) 238283, email info@bradfordliteraturefestival.co.uk or visit bradfordliteraturefestival.co.uk