About
29
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Introduction
I am a postgraduate researcher at the Manchester Institute of Education. My PhD examines what young people do on social media (their social media activities) and whether engaging in different social media activities has distinct effects on mental health and wellbeing. Before starting my PhD, I worked at UCL's Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE).
Skills and Expertise
Publications
Publications (29)
Employment contributes to well-being, yet many autistic people who want to work face barriers to meaningful employment. Much research focuses solely on employment rates, rather than taking a more holistic view of professional trajectories and occupational experiences. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 autistic adults to explore their...
Many autistic people are unemployed. Of those who are employed, many are in roles that do not reflect their skills, qualifications and/or capabilities, and little is known about how autistic people progress throughout their careers. This study aimed to review and synthesise the existing evidence about career progression for autistic people. In tota...
Employment contributes to wellbeing, yet many autistic people who want to work face barriers to meaningful employment. Much research focuses solely on employment rates, rather than taking a more holistic view of professional trajectories and occupational experiences. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 autistic adults to explore their e...
Autism can be considered both a personal and social identity. Identifying the factors contributing to positive Autistic identity development is crucial given the potential implications for mental health and wellbeing. In this systematic review, we aimed to synthesize quantitative literature on Autistic identity to identify the (individual and envir...
Several measures have been developed to assess loneliness in the general population. Here, we examined if, and how accurately, widely-used measures capture the experience of loneliness in autistic adults. A total of 203 autistic participants from the UK completed an online survey, which included two widely-used loneliness questionnaires: the Univer...
Autism can be considered both a personal and social identity. Identifying the factors contributing to positive Autistic identity development is crucial given the potential implications for mental health and wellbeing. In this systematic review, we aimed to synthesise quantitative literature on Autistic identity to identify the (individual and envir...
The challenges that autistic young people face when accessing support have been well-documented. In the current study, we examined this issue, focusing specifically on the experiences of autistic young people with multiple marginalised identities. Thirteen participants took part in semi-structured interviews and data were analysed using reflexive t...
Limited research has examined autistic people’s experiences of aging. While the significance of retirement in the context of aging has been highlighted by autistic people themselves, there is a dearth of research in this regard, with only one study focusing on the retirement experiences of one autistic man. In this study, we spoke to 12 older autis...
Post-diagnostic support can be useful for any autistic person, but it may be especially important for young adults (16 – 25 years) who may be negotiating their autistic identity while also navigating the transition to adulthood. Yet, there is a lack of tailored support for this group. In this study, we document the process of co-designing a peer su...
Masking entails hiding or concealing one’s traits during social interactions. Research suggests that masking is particularly common for autistic people, though many non-autistic people also conceal aspects of their identity. Existing research has identified the key motivations and consequences of masking. No research to date, however, has considere...
Introduction
In 2014, changes to special educational needs and disability (SEND) legislation were introduced in England and Wales. These reforms aimed for young people and their families to receive the help and support they need, have a say regarding their support needs, and achieve better outcomes.
Methods
We examine the views of parents of autis...
Background & aims
Exploring Being Autistic is an autistic-led group-based programme providing psychoeducation and peer support to newly identified/diagnosed autistic adults. In 2020, due to social distancing measures implemented following the coronavirus pandemic, Exploring Being Autistic was adapted for online delivery. Here, we aimed to replicate...
Autistic people in England face worse health outcomes than non-autistic people. Autism-specific annual health checks have been proposed as one solution to this issue. This study identified strategies to incentivise primary care providers to offer autism-specific annual health checks, using a behavioural science approach. In phase 1, we conducted in...
Background: A growing body of research has sought to understand autistic people's research priorities. Several of these studies have identified employment as a key research priority. Yet, there have been a few attempts to identify specific, actionable priorities within this area.
Methods: Using an online survey, we asked 197 autistic people in the...
Autistic people face high unemployment rates. One reason for this may be that hiring processes are inaccessible. This study aimed to establish autistic people’s unique experiences of hiring processes in the United Kingdom, by comparing them to the experiences of non-autistic neurodivergent people and neurotypical people. Using qualitative and quant...
Background: A growing body of research has sought to understand autistic people’s research priorities. Several of these studies have identified employment as a key research priority. Yet, there have been few attempts to identify specific, actionable priorities within this area. Methods: Using an online survey, we asked 197 autistic people in the UK...
This article examines 181 autistic adults’ views toward, and experiences of, requesting and receiving workplace adjustments in the UK. Using an online survey, we collected both qualitative and quantitative data relating to individuals’ experiences. While the majority of participants perceived workplace adjustments to be important, many were not rec...
In this systematic review, we examined quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods studies on loneliness in autistic adults. A total of 1460 articles were identified, and 34 of these met inclusion criteria. Results demonstrated that (1) there is a paucity of qualitative data providing first-hand descriptions of loneliness from autistic adults; (2)...
Changes to special educational needs and disability (SEND) legislation in England were implemented in 2014. Here, we evaluate the impact of these changes from the perspective of 80 autistic young people aged 16–25 years. Using an online survey and/or interviews, we examined young people’s views on three key principles of the SEND reforms: the help...
Education professionals (n = 41) in special schools were interviewed about supporting their autistic pupils transitioning to adulthood following the introduction of the Children and Families Act 2014. Our participants explained how they lacked the time to fully implement knowledge gained from training, leading to growing reliance on experiential ex...
Changes to special educational needs and disability (SEND) legislation in England were implemented in 2014, aiming to provide a radically different system for young people with SEND. In this research, we evaluated the impact of these changes from the perspective of autistic young people aged 16-25 years. Using an online survey and interviews, we ex...
Background. In 2014, changes to special educational needs and disability (SEND) legislation were introduced in England and Wales. These reforms aimed for young people and their families to receive the help and support they need, have a say regarding their support needs, and achieve better outcomes. We evaluated the impact of these reforms, five yea...
Educational professionals (n=41) in special schools were interviewed about supporting their autistic pupils transitioning to adulthood following the introduction of the Children and Families Act 2014. Education professionals explained how they lacked the time to fully implement knowledge gained from training, leading to growing reliance on experien...
Sixteen adults (diagnosed or self-identified as autistic) participated in one of two iterations of a ten-week autistic-led programme, aimed at helping autistic adults learn more about autism within a peer group context. Motivations for taking part in the programme included a desire for: (1) exploration of autism; (2) empowerment; and (3) the develo...
Background: Autistic individuals face challenges in the workplace, particularly related to social communication. Diagnostic disclosure may mitigate these challenges, but it also exposes individuals to potential discrimination. This study aimed to share the diagnostic disclosure experiences of autistic adults in the workplace to help employers bette...
Little is known about how parents talk about autism with their autistic children, particularly among families in which both a parent and child are autistic. Using an online survey, we gathered quantitative and qualitative data from 34 autistic parents (most of whom had told their children about their diagnosis) to address this knowledge gap. There...