Today we had a significant guest come and visit us. This special person was none other than Elle McNicoll. Elle McNicoll is an author born and raised in Edinburgh. She is mostly known for writing fictional books about neurodiverse people, her most popular book is called ‘A Kind of Spark’ this was her first book and is based on an autistic person called Addie. She has written seven books in total: A Kind of Spark, Role Model, Like A Charm, Like A Curse, Show Us Who You Are, Keedie, Some Like It Cold, The Trouble with Nina, A Gilmore of Change and Wish You Were Her.
One of the things that she told us what it was like to be diagnosed at a young age and not knowing about anything About it. Elle explained how she struggled as an autistic child because no one would tell her what it meant as there were no books, no videos, not even documentaries to explain it to her through more details. She also explained it made her feel so out of touch. So, she wanted to write a book about how autism affects her and some of the perks so that if a child that felt the same way could read her books and kind of comfort to it and relate.
Overall, everybody enjoyed the very thoughtful visit. Not only did she come speak to us she made a little table in the hall and set out books to be bought and signed! She was also very compassionate about being an author and writing about fictional neurodiversity which is an inspirational thing to do, and a lot of people look up to her!
–Scarlett and Ellouise
