A woman with spinal bifida who had her legs amputated said ignorant strangers ask her if she was in a terror attack.

Safaa Charif, 27, was born with a gap in the her spine and said her legs were undeveloped when she was born.

The TV researcher had her right leg amputated aged one when doctors determined she wouldn’t be able to walk with it, and had a prosthetic limb.

She wore a brace on her "curved up" left leg until aged seven, when she elected to have it "chopped off" so she could wear “dolly shoes like everyone else”.

Safaa was back walking in no time on her prosthetic limbs but has since had to undergo at least 24 surgeries related to her congenital deformities.

Safaa, who is a Muslim, said strangers approach her and tell her she is “brave” and “inspirational” - and ask if she lost her legs in a bombing.

Commenters online have even said in messages to her: "When a suicide bombing goes wrong."

She said she laughs it off after being raised to have “tough skin” but wants to educate others on disability.

Safaa, lives in Ealing, London, said: “People comment and say – ‘when a suicide bombing goes wrong.’

“Or ‘you lost your legs in a bombing’.

“They think someone who looks like me can’t have lost them in any other kind of way other than a terrorist attack.

“If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.

“Randomers come up to me and tell me how inspirational and brave I am.

“People assume my life must be so difficult because of my disability.”

For as long as Safaa can remember she has woken up in the morning and slipped into prosthetic legs.

She said: “I don’t remember a life without putting my legs on.

“I had my left leg amputated at seven.

“My curved up and I had to wear this horrible leg brace with chunky trainers.

“I just wanted to wear dolly shoes like everybody else.

“I just thought ‘let’s get this thing chopped off’.

“I told my dad, Hammadi, 57, and we told my mum, Olaya, 50, the day before the operation.

“My dad and I have a morbid humour.

“I had to relearn to walk but I was up and running within a matter of weeks.”

Growing up, Safaa said she “stuck out like a sore thumb".

She said: “Everything about me stuck out – let alone my disability.

“My parents had a different approach and I never saw difference as bad.

“I wore it as a badge of honour.”

Safaa has now had over two dozen surgeries and she’s so used to them they are like “dentist appointments”.

She said: “The bone carries on growing and the skin doesn’t so they have to revise it.

“Last year I had surgery to revise both my legs and spent a year recovering.”

Safaa now creates videos on TikTok to help educate people on disability and was shocked at the amount of “ignorance” out there.

She receives racist and ableist comments on all her videos but is able to laugh it off.

Safaa said: “Being disabled is seen as a dirty word.

“It’s part of who I am.

“I don’t want you to not see it but I don’t want to be defined by it.”