SHE is awkward in social situations, has trouble making eye contact and finds it difficult to talk to new people.

And her poor posture prompted one rival to call her 'Hunchback Heather'.

Heather Kuzmich, a contestant on the ninth season of reality TV series America's Next Top Model, suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism.

The other girls made snide comments behind her back and predicted she wouldn't make it past the first elimination.

Yet, the stunning beauty overcame all odds by reaching the top five of the show, which is airing over Channel (V) (StarHub Channel 85) on Mondays at 7pm.

Kuzmich, 22, went from underdog to frontrunner, winning the hearts of millions of American viewers and more around the world.

OTHERS WHO OVERCAME THE ODDS

WHO: Amanda Swafford, Season 3 second runner-up WHAT: Blindness SEVERITY: Diagnosed with disease when 14. Afflicted with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye condition that will leave her completely blind when she turns 30 in October. AFTER AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL: Still with Storm Model Management.

WHO: CariDee English, Season 7 winner WHAT: Psoriasis, a skin disease SEVERITY: Suffered from it for 15 years - covered 70 per cent of her body at one point. AFTER AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL: Became the global spokesman for the National Psoriasis Foundation, spreading awareness, encouraging others to seek treatment. An austistic woman competing to be America's Next Top Model?

She said she was 'surprised' to receive such positive feedback.

Over the phone from Chicago, where she is based, Kuzmich told The New Paper: 'I keep hearing from people who go on my MySpace, saying 'Sorry my English is not good but you are an inspiration and my favourite girl'.

Kuzmich - who thinks of herself as 'an ugly duckling' and 'a geek' - said she joined the show to prove that girls who are different can still do well.

She said: 'I wanted to see if I could do modelling and show people that we're really cool, pretty and not the bottom of the totem pole. I'm glad I was able to do it well. I didn't care if I was going to win or not.'

Kuzmich was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when she was 15, around the time her father died.

But the 1.83m-tall model wannabe said it wasn't her intention to highlight her condition at the audition.

However, she did write it down in her application form under the health problems section, thinking it wouldn't be 'that big a deal'.

Not surprisingly, the producers zeroed in on it and played it up.

Kuzmich admits she has mixed feelings about the media attention her relatively unknown developmental disorder drew because 'it's not the defining thing about me' and 'a lot of people make the situation bigger than it really is'.

And although she initially felt insecure about her place in an industry where perfection is everything, her fears over how she'd be received and judged by the fashion experts faded over time.

'I wasn't worried about bad critique or girls being catty. I actually had a sense of the industry from my sister, that girls are mean and agencies can say mean stuff, but it doesn't happen that much,' she said.

STILL KEEPS IN TOUCH

Even though Kuzmich was shown crying and depressed in the first few episodes after being bullied by other contestants, she still keeps in touch with most of them - even her bitchiest critic Bianca Golden.

She said: 'It was edited that way. The girls were much nicer to me (than shown), and Bianca's a good friend.

'I was not really surprised to watch how they weren't really treating me nicely, but it's flattering they spend all that energy talking about me!'

Kuzmich revealed she'll be signing up with a modelling agency 'pretty soon' and moving to New York in a month to 'get more jobs'.

She also plans to take time off school - she's studying game art design at Illinois Institute of Art - to pursue a full-time modelling career.

But in a real-world scenario, will Asperger's Syndrome limit her success?

After all, despite having a strong portfolio of photographs on the show, she struggled on challenges that required her to speak in front of an audience, deliver lines for a CoverGirl commercial and connect with prospective clients.

But Kuzmich insisted: 'I don't think it will hinder me in any way. It doesn't affect me unless I'm under stress. If not, it's under control. It may pop up now and then but I deal with it and I'm going to work my butt off.'

And for International Women's Day today, what changes would Kuzmich - a size 2 who is 'naturally thin' - advocate to better women's lives?

She said: 'I'd like it if designers start to consider models' health a lot more. I still see magazines with very skinny, unhealthy-looking models.

'I wish we'd let up on the whole size zero obsession and diverge from the stereotypical images.'

This article was first published in The New Paper on Mar 8, 2008.