My autism campaign

Hello, I’m Honor Priestley, I’m 10 years old. I live in Leeds with my sister and my mum. I enjoy lots of sports such as swimming and netball. I also like baking, dancing and playing with my friends. My favourite food is pizza – yum. I love listening to music and my favourite singers are Harry Styles, Dua Lipa and Jess Glynn. I like to play Sims on my Xbox, and I love to walk my next door neighbour’s dog, Stanley – we’ve known him from a puppy and he’s gorgeous!

Leeds Children’s Mayor

I am campaigning to become Leeds Children’s Mayor as I have got through to the last 12 candidates, from over 50 entries from Leeds schools. The Children’s Mayor of Leeds is someone who is voted in by other children. You have to campaign on an issue that you feel passionate about. If people like that campaign, they vote for it. Once the Children’s Mayor is voted in, they work hard to put their campaign in place in schools throughout Leeds. It’s a great way to make a difference and help other children.

Autism Action

My campaign is about autism. I want every child in school to understand what autism is. The inspiration for my campaign was my friend Eve. Eve has autism. It means that she sometimes acts differently to how other children in her class would act, it’s not because she is bad but because her autism means she reacts in a certain way to situations.

Many children across Leeds have autism and sometimes people don’t know what to do, they can get frustrated, or they may even be unkind and pick on them because they are different. Children with autism may need more help in school as they may struggle to learn how to read and write, they may make noises at inappropriate times, they may get upset or angry easily. I want to raise awareness and help children without autism be more understanding and have compassion and help make autistic children’s lives easier and more inclusive.

I want to help create an Autism Friendly Leeds.

If I Become Leeds Children’s Mayor I want every child to understand what autism is, so I want to provide more resources in schools. We could have a lesson dedicated to inform the children on what autism is, what the signs are, how they should react, and make it easier for autistic children to live a better life with children who don’t have autism.

We could put a buddy system in place so people with autism feel more included and make friends. Each school could have an assembly dedicated to understanding autism, and I would work with Leeds Autism organisations to produce materials to be used in schools that could then be shared in wider communities too.

Other children in the city can become Autism Ambassadors. They pledge to raise awareness of autism amongst their friends and families. There could be a poster competition and the winning one is used within schools as part of the assemblies and lessons. People who have autism may want to get involved too.

I can only make a difference to children’s lives in Leeds if I am voted in as Leeds Children’s Mayor. I have until Friday 16^th October to let as many people as possible know about my campaign and encourage them to vote for me. You have to be aged 18 or under and live in Leeds to vote. You can vote online, or through tally sheets that are provided in schools.

Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you found it interesting. Please vote for me!

Here are two little videos that explain more about what autism is