Teenager arrives at Berkeley prom with bike convoy

Lia Filby was greeted at the venue by her best friend

An autistic teenager, who once struggled to fit in, has now had her prom dream come true.

Lia Filby from Gloucestershire, who defied her doctor's predictions by finishing all her GCSE exams, had wanted to arrive at the event escorted by a convoy of motorbikes.

"I want to impress people. My friends are going in cars, but I want a whole motorcycle escort," Lia said.

"I want all the popular kids to go,'Wow!'".

Lia's mum Linsey said her daughter had "done amazingly" at school

Being herself has "gained her popularity" and made her life better, Lia said

Lia is about to leave mainstream schooling after her studies, something her family might never have believed was possible.

At the age of three, when she was non-verbal, they were told she would require life-long care.

But after undertaking speech and language therapy, she proved her doctors wrong.

"She has done amazing," Ms Filby's mum Linsey said.

Lia faced many challenges growing up - she lost her dad at a young age and developed alopecia from the stress

Lia has also faced many other challenges - she lost her dad at a young age and at the age of 10, she developed alopecia from stress.

"In year seven, I had to hide who I was, and I wanted to be normal," Lia said.

"Until I was like, 'I am so bored, nothing interesting goes on in my life, let me just turn into actually myself'.

"Since then, everything has gone uphill, I've got a lot more friends now, it seems like being myself as gained me popularity."

As she arrived at the prom, Lia was greeted by her best friend, before joining the evening's celebrations.

Lia wanted to arrive at her prom with a convoy of motorbikes to "impress people"