Amaya Edwards

Hi I am Amaya. I am 11 years old. When I was 5 I saw a dead seal on the beach with a plastic ring around its neck. It upset me and I went home and made a poster about taking litter home or put into a bin. The mayor of Hunstanton liked my poster and had it made into postcards which were sold with the money made from them going to Sealife. I wanted to do more to help animals but with my autism I struggle to be able to speak to people so I then decided to make a book. I wrote and illustrated it using my support dog Boo to tell the story about saving sea animals. I was so happy to get this published and I donated10% of the profit from each book to Sealife.

After that I started to write more books and have so far made five that have all been published. For each book sold, I give 10% of the proceeds to different charities. One of my books is a colouring book to help autistic people at Christmas as it can be a stressful time for everyone.

Every time I go to the beach I litter pick and also do it in the village and caravan site where we have a static caravan on. I also help my mummy to run organised beach cleans once a week.

I have set up a YouTube channel to try and help autistic people by showing them toys that help me and places that are really good to visit.

I also write a monthly article for East Anglia bylines and am their youngest reporter.

I want to show people that it does not matter if you have a disability, you can achieve anything you want and I want to be a role model by showing them this can happen as it has for me.