A 10-year-old Bromley girl has been praised by famous authors after writing an articulate and poignant description of living with autism.
'The life of a perfectionist' was written by Libby, 10, immediately after she opened up to her auntie and grandmother about her autism.
Her relatives watched on as Libby started typing the story on the computer on Saturday (July 14).
“I lay in my bed as everything around me is still,” the story began. “I notice that my candles are in the wrong order; the cleaner must of done it.”
The piece, which describes a typical day for Libby, later reads: “To take my mind of things I head to the Bromley swimming pool get changed and start swimming but then I realize: the skittles that the life guard is eating out of a bowl are not in colour order.”
Libby's mum Kym Scott spoke to News Shopper about reading her daughter’s story for the first time.
She said: “I was blown away. I just recognised it as something brilliant. I spent the whole day wondering whether it was plagiarised. But my sister in law watched her write it.
“I knew she understood her autism very well and she always wanted to tell others about it because she feels people need to understand.
“But I didn’t know she had that level of writing talent, it is not something she normally does.”
Kym posted the story on Twitter hoping that one of her teacher followers would offer a compliment so she could pass it on to her daughter.
The tweet was shared more than 16,000 times and authors including Ann Cleeves and Neil Gaiman expressed how impressed they were.
This is wonderful. My granddaughter is autistic too. Please pass on congratulations from a fellow writer.
— Ann Cleeves (@AnnCleeves) July 16, 2018
It's terrific!
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) July 16, 2018
Kym said the positive feedback has been vital to Libby's self-esteem as she often feels like she doesn’t belong.
“She has spent her life feeling different to others,” her mum said. “She feels difficult to deal with a lot of the time.
“To now see this confidence in a world where she feels she doesn't belong is magical.”
Libby has been amazed at the reaction of her work and “has not been off the keyboard since”, her mum joked.
“She is over the moon but also bemused,” Kym added. “She can’t see what the fuss is about and never thought it was that good.
“I think she now realises she has the power to express things other people can’t. That is important to her because she wants to help others.”
A Twitter page @BlogLibby has since been set up as a platform for Libby’s words.
Her second essay, 'The life of autism', is an autobiographical story where Libby sombrely described her social struggles.
Since Libby's words went viral the Bromley girl has received various offers, including a column for an autism letter.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here