When it comes to children, most parents are very proud of the work that they do. I can tell you from experience that there is a box full of my elementary school papers and that has been gathering dust at my mother’s house for decades. Every once in a while, I go through the box to see what is there but for my mom, it is a special memory that she is not willing to part with.
Kym Scott is a mother that also feels the same way but she also uses the Internet to share information about what her daughter is doing. Her daughter, Libby, was recently the subject of a short story that her mother shared on Twitter. It went viral and it is still being shared more than a week after it was posted. The subject of the work, her “daily struggle” with autism is striking a chord with people around the world.
Autism has sometimes been described as a developmental disability that affects how people see, hear and feel the world around them.
Scott talks about her daughter as having “demand avoidant” autism spectrum disorder, which can make it difficult for her to communicate with family and friends.
“Libby’s language skills were good right up to the age of around five, but as she grew older her difficulties became more pronounced,” she told the BBC.
Libby sometimes described herself as feeling like “toast that can’t quite fit into the toaster and to get it into the toaster you have to sort of bend it out of shape and cram it in.”
Despite the fact that she has those feelings, her mother says Libby is both thoughtful and creative, even though she is quiet. When her grandmother wanted Libby to explain what autism feels like, she found her voice.
“My autistic [10-year-old] daughter, who hardly ever chooses to read or write, banged this out on the computer yesterday,” Kym wrote, sharing a story written by Libby called “The life of a perfectionist.””
“She’d be over the moon & maybe inspired to write more often if it got some likes & [retweets].”
Their reactions to Libby’s writing left both her and her mother “spellbound.”
This is Libby’s original short story that was inspired from her life with autism
“I lay in my bed as everything around me is still. I notice that the candles are in the wrong order; the cleaner must of done it. I think to myself ‘[I] don’t want to get up as I am so comfortable.’
I reluctantly climb out of my bed and adjust my candles. I then quickly get back into bed and pull the covers up to my chin, my eyes begin to flutter and, after a long night, I drift off.
The next morning I get up out of bed with high spirits but that changes as I realize: my [favorite] song doesn’t have exactly 100 words; it has 98. [My] heart stops. A few hours later I find myself writing to the singer telling her how I felt.
I got a reply from her saying ‘I am sorry but I cannot change the lyrics of my song, lots of love Taylor Swift.’
I sigh and try to get another song stuck in my head. I fail.
To take my mind [off] 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 [color] order.
I clench my fists and stroll over there. “[Hey] life guard errm your-your skittles” I say, with a shake in my voice.
“[What] about ‘em” he replies, in a gruff, deep voice which forced me to take a step back.
I give up and walk away. Hours later, I make friends with this girl called Claire. We play, we talk, we go down the water slides together but I suddenly realize: her armbands don’t match.”
The story has been shared tens of thousands of times and has more than 1000 comments.
She is already starting on more items, including an autobiography.
“I stroll downstairs and tell my dad that he is playing guitar too loudly,” Libby wrote. “He isn’t. I ask myself why I do this and get no reply.”
“Sometimes I pretend that everybody feels the same as me but *shakes head* I don’t think so.”
Libby’s parents are proud of what their daughter is doing.
“Living with autism can take its toll as it is a daily struggle,” Scott said.
“But Libby still gets up and goes to school and pushes herself and I know the bravery behind that.”
She hopes that people will continue to read and share the stories as they learn more about her condition.
“Libby told me that if there was one thing she wanted people to know about autism it is simply to understand it.”