A West Lothian teenager has been recognised in scheme that celebrates the extraordinary stories and achievements of people with learning disabilities and autism thanks to her innovative fidget toy and support for neurodiverse individuals.
Kaydi Scottsvile (15) from Livingston features in the Dimensions’ 2021 Leaders’ List.
Kaydi was recognised in the Local Communities category after founding Diversified, a not-for-profit social enterprise selling affordable sensory and fidget toys.
And as if that wasn’t enough of an achievement, Kaydi also set up a support network for neurodiverse young people and their families in West Lothian called The Together Project.
Dimensions is the UK’s largest not-for-profit provider of support to people with learning disabilities and autism.
AKaydi is autistic and doesn’t have any high school education.
When she was 12, she wasn’t able to continue attending school because it was overwhelming for her and the school couldn’t meet her needs.
She said she was “misunderstood and struggled so much”.
Kaydi continued: “My mental health was bad and I felt like I just couldn’t function anymore. I would sit curled up on the sofa all day reading books to escape from the reality I was in. My future had been taken away from me and I felt like there was no point to anything anymore.
Kaydi said her inspiration for her fidget spinner toy business - called Diversified - was to give back to organisations who had helped her when she couldn’t go to school.
She continued: “I started fundraising for charities such as Lothian Autistic Society, Signpost, The Yard and advocacy service Partners In Advocacy - My Rights, My Say who had supported me to have my voice heard around all the issues I had experienced at school. I managed to raise over a thousand pounds, but I really wanted to do more.
“When I was 14, I decided I wanted to use my fundraising activities as a home-schooling project, that I decided to name Diversified, where I hoped I would be able to raise even more funds.
“With mum’s help I set up a website and started selling sensory and fidget toys.
“These fidget toys had been the one thing that helped me cope during my difficulties with school and I wanted them to be affordable and accessible to everyone who needed them because they are so expensive. I was too young to get support to set up, but mum helped me and taught me a lot. I loved what I had started with Diversified and I quickly found out how important it was to share my journey so others knew that they weren’t alone.”
Nicola, Kaydi’s mum said it was “an utterly heart-breaking situation” to see her daughter go from an intelligent, bubbly, happy and outgoing girl just fade away.
She said: “Being out of school, she had been completely forgotten about. She was isolated and alone and was so desperately low.
Kaydi and I worked together to focus on her wellbeing rather than the education she was missing out on, and it took a lot of careful nurturing. Kaydi slowly began to improve, and I saw her confidence start to grow.”
Nicole continued: “Kaydi’s story had spread through our community, both locally and nationally, and support came flooding in for what she was doing.
“Families could relate to her experience and she became an inspiration to other young people - one who even went on to set up their own fundraising goals!
“What began as Kaydi’s home-schooling project, was now a thriving social enterprise that fed back into our community. Kaydi started to realise that she could do more and she started working on the main thing that she was most passionate about - taking away that isolation for others that she had felt when she was out of school. She set about planning a social project to support the neurodiverse young people in our community.”
And later, between funding from UnLtd and the profit from her website, the Together Project was born.
The Together Project provides neurodiverse 10-to-16-year-olds and their families in West Lothian dedicated social opportunities that are both designed and led by those who are neurodiverse.
Kaydi continued: “That was something that was so important to me because people had never really understood me or my neurodiverse needs.
Her drive to reduce social isolation for young people like her pushed her to set up this incredible project incorporating online games and activities, face to face social groups and dedicated outings in her community.
Her project focuses on building friendships with peers who understand the struggles that each other go through being neurodiverse, and supports parents and carers to build understanding around their children’s needs to strengthen their relationships.
Since starting Diversified and setting up the Together Project, Kaydi has donated thousands of pounds to local charities, donated over £4000 of sensory kits to young people with additional needs in her community and raised additional funds to be able to donate sensory safe space equipment to local organisations to make them more inclusive for those with additional needs.
She continued: “At Christmas, I wanted to bring Christmas joy to children with additional needs in our community, so I delivered 500 Santa letter writing sets to our local hospital, support services and schools. Not forgetting young people, who like me, were home educated.
Nicola continued: “Kaydi has changed our community. She works with organisations to consult how to be more inclusive and educates them to understand neurodiversity better.
“She inspires and builds other young people’s confidence to thrive and succeed regardless of receiving an education or not. She gives them a safe space to feel valued and included without judgement or expectations placed on them. She supports parents and caregivers to build understanding of their child’s neurodiversity to create strong lasting relationships.
“And more than anything, she empowers these amazing young people to embrace their neurodiversity to become valued members of our community that will continue to shape an inclusive and accessible world around them.”
And Kaydi is not stopping there, her goal this year is to develop a specific service for young people like me who struggle to attend
school, to have a place they feel comfortable to meet others, learn life skills and get support with schoolwork.
She also wants to secure premises for Diversified where she can run the Together Project and increase the number of young people she can reach. She continued: “I want to create a permanent sensory safe space in West Lothian, and have a place where neurodiversity is embraced and supported, and everyone is free to be themselves!
“I’m in the middle of getting charitable status to become a formal Scottish charity, so I’m really looking forward to growing even bigger by the end of 2022. “
Kaydi is now in a specialist service in a neurodiverse school - Vibe at Donaldson’s in Linlithgow and loving it.
She said of her award win: “I was surprised that I won an award and that I was named on the Leaders List, but I was pleased that people know about what I’m doing and how I can help others.
“It makes me feel proud of what I’ve achieved and I want to help others have achievements too!
“We just need the right support and it’s important that support is guided by neurodiverse voices because we aren’t listened to and that’s a problem.”
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