At the age of 14, frustrated by her lack of progress compared to her peers, she was approached by coach Hazel Childs who suggested she switch to parasports.

[4] In 2012, following the London Paralympics and inspired to leave a legacy to her newborn daughter, Hermitage decided to become classified as a parasport athlete.

[2] She intended to compete throughout 2014, but a stress fracture to her foot saw her miss the majority of that year's competition including the 2014 IPC Athletics European Championships in Swansea.

[7] In June that year Hermitage represented Great Britain again when she competed at the Berlin IPC Grand Prix.

She won all three events, posting personal bests in the 100m (13.80s) and 200m (28.48s) and beating Lisa McIntosh's 15-year-old record in the T37 400m sprint with a time of 1:02.70.

[2][9] At the end of 2015 Hermitage represented Great Britain at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha.