I'm excited to be one of the speakers at National Autistic Society's Annual Professionals’ Conference, live online on 13th March 2025. The conference's theme is exploring neuroaffirmative practice. I'll be talking about high support needs. Tickets and information: autism.org.uk/conference

Updated my website with some talks I'm doing over the next few months - a lot of stuff aimed at professionals working with autistic people, including autistic people with higher support needs. More info & booking links at: heasutherland.com/event/

Belated, but really excited to announce I'll be speaking at Autism Europe #AEC2025 about my ethnographic work involving the neurodiversity paradigm and autistic people with higher support needs!

It's #NeurodiversityCelebrationWeek! But what is neurodiversity? We wrote an article for young people explaining what neurodiversity means for different people and their day to day life! Sue Fletcher-Watson Katie Cebula Dr Alyssa M. Alcorn Frontiers for Young Minds kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…

We're now a month out from INSAR 2025. So it's a good time to mention that, on the Saturday, I'll be on a panel about the neurodiversity paradigm and how it applies to and benefits autistic people with higher support needs. See you there! heasutherland.com/talk/neurodive…

eastieoaks.com/2025/04/06/are…

Reminder that I'm doing a talk tomorrow for the Middletown Centre on neuro-affirming support for autistic people with higher support needs. Aimed at carers, professionals, parents etc. - do come along! More info & ticket link: heasutherland.com/talk/neuro-aff…

This is now peer reviewed and out in Neurodiversity - my first published PhD output! 📰 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/27…

Important thread. Includes “In…computational analysis I show that there is only been a growth in the use of the term disorder and that the word severe autism has seen a particular growth that far outstrips any mention of Neurodiversity and neurodivergence in research literature”

Who on here is going to INSAR this week? #INSAR25 Drop a comment if you'd like to meet up (either before or during! I'm around from Tuesday onwards, minus a few prior commitments) - it'd be great to catch up with people, or to meet people I only know as profile pics on here :)

This is part of "Neurodivergence-Affirming and Inclusive Research Practices for Autistic People with High Support Needs" a 10:30-12:30 on Saturday, Room 608-609! Do come along, it's going to be a great panel.

Thesis corrections were submitted Saturday! Three added sections on the ethics of and participation recruitment for my studies, and also a bit on my epistemology and how that interacted with my methods. Hard work to write them, but glad I did it - the thesis is better with them.

The podcast I did about my PhD research with the wonderful Middletown Autism Centre is now out: buzzsprout.com/1184276/episod… (+ Apple & Spotify ) It's a pretty casual chat, not a super technical academic thing - so if you're a carer, practitioner, etc. do give it a listen!

🚨 Our new research just out in Autism journal: GRRAND UCL Psych & Lang Sci Liverpool John Moores University @UCL @EdgeHill Anna Freud highlights systemic barriers in #CAMHS for #autistic children. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13… National Autistic Taskforce NHS Ability Autism Practice

Autistic women or non-binary participants (18+) needed📢 We would like to hear your valuable expertise in reviewing an intervention that aims to prevent body image concerns and disordered eating. For more info, please email Hannah at [email protected]

This is now published in the Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research! ▶️ sjdr.se/articles/10.16…

If you're interested in autism, religious experience, and people who are minimally-speaking / have higher support needs, do check out this job at U of Aberdeen: abdnjobs.co.uk/vacancy/resear… You'd get to work on a very interesting project with a really great team.

Very excited to be attending the Critical Neurodiversity Studies conference today, from the NDHums ndhumanities.bsky.social network. Sad I can't be there in person, but their online provision is wonderful, and lots of very cool speakers in the lineup...

Belated because I've been super busy, but I graduated a few weeks ago! I'm *officially* Dr. Sutherland now. Not sure I can explain what that means to me - I've wanted a doctorate for as long as I can remember. Huge thanks to the wonderful supervisors who helped get me there. 💜