Bodie Best - an Introduction

by

Richard Hill

[BODIE'S STORY] - [ABOUT THE BOOK] - [CONDITIONS] - [DOGS & DINOSAURS] - [ARTWORK] - [FACEBOOK] - [OTHER STUFF] - [GALLERY] - [LINKS] - [CONTACT US]

Bodie Best is a 19-year-old non-binary person with a variety of complex psychiatric needs including autism. According to the National Autistic Society (NAS): ‘Some people identify as the sex they were assigned with at birth, others don’t.’ They go on to describe how some people identify as neither female nor male. Bodie prefers to identify by the pronouns ‘he’ or ‘they’.

Bodie explains how autism affects him: ‘It affects me socially. I struggle with communication and am a little socially awkward. I get a lot of social anxiety and it affects my communication, so I can struggle to talk sometimes and I’m not very good at texting or Facebook and things. And I have sensory issues. I’m susceptible to light and sounds. I have blue-tinted lenses in my glasses which help with bright lights. I always wear headphones and I usually have music playing through my headphones but if people are talking to me or I have to hear someone, my headphones play a noise cancellation noise such as white noise, which helps dampen sound. I also have social and behavioral challenges.

During the week, Bodie attends ‘a specialist further education college providing day and residential support for young people with Autism spectrum conditions or additional social needs.’

Last autumn 2023, Bodie met me online. I was researching material for an article on ‘assistance’ dogs. Bodie, who has two assistance dogs ‘Curly’ and ‘Rex’ saw my appeal for information on a Facebook page and got in touch. I wrote articles about Bodie and his dogs for the magazines ‘Able’ and ‘Dogs Today’. Since then we’ve kept in touch and I’ve found Bodie’s life story fascinating and slowly, we have got to know each other online.”

A few months later, in the New Year, I embarked on a 12-week online course with the ‘National Centre for Writing’. I enrolled in ‘Creative Writing Non-fiction’ which I found both challenging and fascinating. At one point, I submitted part of my articles as an exercise about “openings”. The tutor, the author Edward Parnell commented on it and suggested that it would be a good opening for a book about Bodie, which set me thinking. I gave the idea to Bodie, whose first response was:’I’m in 100%!’

Hitherto, I’d not considered writing a book. But this interested me, so I began by starting to research it. On February 12th I put pen to paper and began making some notes.

That’s basically where we’re up to. Bodie has kept a diary or journal about his life and experiences and is sorting through them. I am researching aspects such as autism and other mental health conditions that affect Bodie.

This website is designed to keep you informed of our progress and to appeal for information.

© Richard Hill 2024
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