When Peri-Ann Savidge was 11-years-old she told her older sister Laura that she loved her for the first time, causing the older sibling to weep with happiness.

Doctors had warned that Peri, who was diagnosed with autism aged 11, would never be able to hold a conversation with her family, or get a job.

Now, the 23-year-old, from Tonbridge, uses her voice to educate thousands about her condition and blast the stigma that surrounds it, via social media and a blog, and dreams of teaching children with special needs.

Her Facebook page, Not Rain Girl has nearly 12,000 likes, and Peri often receives thank you messages from readers with autism, or a relatives with the condition.

To mark World Autism Month, Peri, who serves Krispy Kreme doughnuts in a Tunbridge Wells shopping centre, spoke to KentOnline about how she proved doctors, teachers and employers all wrong and the misunderstandings that surround her condition.

Peri said her first word, 'Bob', after Bob the Builder, aged six, but was non verbal for four years after that, unable to express her feelings clearly or make simple requests.

Even though she knew exactly what she wanted to say, the words could not form, leading to her feeling frustrated. This would result in her sometimes lashing out at herself, her parents or her 11 siblings.

"Maybe I would bang my head or hit someone if someone was near or I would go into meltdown. I was thinking 'why is everyone else talking? Why can't I?' This is such a normal thing. I felt I was an alien from a different planet."

She felt lonely at primary school and struggled to make friends. Because she had not been diagnosed yet, teachers thought she wasn't listening or didn't want to do the work.

"I really didn't have any friends at primary school, and that's another sign of autism, finding it difficult to interact. I would go to my grandma's and I would say 'how do you make friends'. It's such an automatic thing for other people."

"People didn't and still don't know much about autism. There was a teaching assistant that was with me and she was nice. With 30 kids in the classroom the teacher just didn't have the time to understand me.

"I would get so lonely that I would go into my own world. It was peaceful, somewhere I was automatically accepted. Somewhere I didn't use words but everyone understood me."

After rounds of speech therapy, Peri spoke again aged ten, shocking doctors and delighting her mum, who stayed at home, and her dad, a builder, who was often out of work because of an injury.

Soon after she was diagnosed with autism. The retail worker says this was a late diagnosis, given that she displayed many typical signs of the condition, such as difficulties with communication, rigid thinking and heightened sensory needs.

"I would rarely play with toys, when I was younger I used to line them up instead. Getting dressed in the morning would take hours and hours, nothing felt right, things would be itchy."

Having such a big family could also be challenging.

"It made every day life a little bit difficult because of the noise and when you have so many people in the house it can get quite unpredictable, and with my autism I like to know everything that's going on. I would never change it, I love them all," she said.

Once diagnosed, Peri started attending a school for children with special educational needs. Classes were smaller and teachers had more time to get to know the pupils and their needs. She also made friends, becoming one of the more popular kids.

It was during her final year of school, when, anxious about leaving her "safety net", she started a blog about her life and her condition, after encouragement from a teacher who spotted her talent.

At first she only got one or two views a day, but slowly her readership grew and she started a Facebook page.

"When I was younger I knew nothing about autism. There was no information about it. I feel like if I can help at least one person to understand their loved one a little better, or just someone who is non verbal, I give them my voice. I get all sorts of messages from people saying I helped them understand their brother or sister better."

After school she went on to study at a mainstream further education college, where, she says there was a woeful lack of support.

"They said they had never had someone come from a special needs school. They found me a bit difficult and didn't know how to support me."

After three weeks into her year-long course, Peri was told to drop out because the work load was too much.

"I said 'no I want to finish', and after months and months of struggling I did finish." She even collected five university offers, but decided not to take any of them up, for fear she would again be constantly underestimated.

Despite proving her teachers wrong, there were still further obstacles to overcome. Her boss at Krispy Kreme didn't understand why she couldn't make eye contact with customers.

"I said that if someone tells you to put your hand on a hot oven and for some reasons you really want to, maybe it was for a bet to win £100. But you can't keep your hand on the oven because you brain is telling you it's harming you and you need to stop it. That's a bit like eye contact for me. It feels like looking at the sun."

'The biggest misunderstanding is that we don't have any empathy and we don't care...'

After failing her three-month probation period, gradually Peri was able to speak more to customers, but also explained to her colleagues what she was able to do, and her limits.

Since leaving school she has been her own "advocate", and still sees many misconceptions about autism.

"The biggest misunderstanding is that we just don't have any empathy and we don't care, but we often care so much and too much that it feels overwhelming and we respond in negative ways."

Turning to the current coronavirus crisis, Peri says lockdown can be particularly hard for people with autism, because of the seismic shift in routines, upon which many rely.

"I have been trying to do at least one thing at the same time every day, I go into the garden and read my book. Don't keep us in the dark about the pandemic, talk to us about it, and if we don't understand the news, answer our questions," she said.

Although currently on furlough, Peri is content at Krispy Kreme, but in the long term she would like to teach and has been writing a book for over a year now.

The teacher who encouraged Peri to write lost a battle with cancer and Peri spoke at his memorial service.

"I said I want to make him proud. He inspired my blog and had the most faith in me. He inspired me to educate people which is what I am doing now with my blog."

Read more: All the latest news from Tonbridge

Read more: All the latest news from Tunbridge Wells