"autistic people reported higher levels of negative post-traumatic appraisals" journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... including fear appraisals: "it is plausible that these are developed and reinforced through repeated experiences of the world not being safe or supportive for autistic people"

Your annual reminder that if you want someone to chat or have a laugh with over the Christmas period there will be lots of folk on the #JoinIn and #DuvetKnowItsChristmas threads. 🎄

Call for speakers! 📚 On 18.03.26 @nlisn.bsky.social is running a full-day online event on neurodivergency and entry into the LIS profession. We welcome proposals from current students, recent graduates, early-career, long-term staff, recruiters, anyone! More info & form - forms.gle/MjT2djGSXp1o...

Blessings of the Returning Light on this Solstice, Fourth Sunday in Advent and eighth night of Hanukkah.* Find light in the darkness. ❤ *All being things I either celebrate for myself or with family. :)

Important Holiday Season update: Tim Horton's donuts may be famous, but they're not a patch on Sainsbury's as Hanukkah donuts.

Good to be at St Martin in the Fields for 'Christ in the Stranger' this morning, an act of witness about the meaning of Christmas ahead of the afternoon event nearby. Joining with Sanctuary Foundation, Better Story and people from diverse churches across London. #RefugeesWelcome

Solidarity with my Jewish friends today, especially anyone in Australia. What a horrific thing.

annsautism.blogspot.com/2025/12/but-... New blog from me. This may be helpful for anyone struggling to know whether to force their autistic child to join in at Christmas or other festivities. Some helpful resources, and some myth-busting.

This was an excellent seminar from Prof and Dr Aiello. It’s been a great year of seminars in our research group, with activist research a particular theme. Looking forward to sharing more research with impact for disabled people in 2025.

Great article in the latest ISRF newsletter by @autgeek.bsky.social and @drhelenkara.bsky.social - ‘Why is There So Much Research About Us Without Us?’ - on neurodivergence research funding and agendas. isrf.org/blog/why-is-... #AutRes #DisabilityStudies

(Done.) Write to your MP about the threatened cuts to Access to Work. Thanks to @inclusionlondon.bsky.social for organising this campaign. www.inclusionlondon.org.uk/campaigns-an...

🚨Our statement on #Budget2026 Yet more Government actions that place the burden on Disabled people instead of taking responsibility for an unequal and inaccessible society that the Government has the power to change. www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/dr-uks-...

“Who counts as disabled then?” I get extra ‘disability studies bingo’ points if they do finger air quotes around the word disabled

In honor of @sfdirewolf.bsky.social's legacy as a disability activist and writer, today we are republishing Bitch Magazine's Access Series, which was originally curated by Alice Wong. Worker-owner and former Bitch editor-in-chief Evette Dionne updated the intro to the series here:

🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨 UK Covid-19 Inquiry report has just been released - it details the damning failure to protect Disabled people as “too little, too late”, mentioning government's “remarkable” failure to anticipate and plan an effective response More👇 www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/uk-covi...

Devastating. Alice was a powerful voice in disability justice activism, arts and storytelling, who helped so many people see that our stories matter. Rest in power.

All right folks, it’s crunch time. I’ve done that thing where I arrange to stay somewhere for three days and do not intend to emerge except for food, or do anything but work. Last time I did this was for my book. Now I’m writing a very intimidating (but exciting) research proposal. Wish me luck!

"An essential listen for anyone interested in neurodivergence, gender and disability rights. Katie’s powerful voice, extensive knowledge, and commitment to their community provide a perspective that challenges assumptions and inspires action" podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

New article in the International Journal of Disability & Social Justice - 'I Just Didn't Fit into the Way That They Did Church': Barriers to Access & Participation for Disabled People in Churches naomilawsonjacobs.com/new-article-... #EqualityAct #NewResearch #DisabilityStudies #AcademicSky

I’m honoured to be a guest on the fantastic Dr Selina Stone’s #podcast ‘Sunday School for Misfits’ this week. This season of the podcast is on power, and we had a lot to talk about when it comes to #disability, #neurodivergence and power in churches and #theology. open.spotify.com/episode/3DM2...

New blogpost on my concerns about Wellcome LEAP new $50m program on autism/microbiome links. deevybee.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-le... #autism #microbiome #biomarkers #diagnostic

Here's this year's @livingedgeconf.bsky.social, as mentioned in today's wonderful seminar hosted by @naomijacobs.bsky.social . There are still a few spaces left, both onsite and online. cantheseboneslive.eventbrite.co.uk

Huge thanks to @krysiawally.bsky.social , @jpuddlegoose.bsky.social & Bernice Hardie for sharing their work in faith communities for disability inclusion & social justice at @learningmet.bsky.social. Great to host such interesting speakers on a topic we don’t talk about enough in #DisabilityStudies.

Simon Wessely — the controversial psychiatrist once dubbed “Britain’s most hated doctor” has been appointed vice chair of Labour’s review into overdiagnosis of mental health and neurodivergence. www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/controv...

🗞️ NEWS 🗞️ Dr. Krysia Waldock and I have chapters to release from the two co-edited collections. Here is our next premiere of the 'talking heads' videos. These books focus on neurodivergence and education, in all its renditions (i.e., in life too).

Solidarity with the Jewish community, especially in Manchester. The murder of two people at worship on the holiest day of the Jewish year is beyond reprehensible.

1. Dr. Jane Goodall 1934 - 2025 In 1962, a very young woman named Jane Goodall stepped into the African forest. What she would discover shattered our understanding of the place of human beings in the world. She revealed that chimpanzees use tools, form bonds, and experience emotions.

I’m enjoying how people from various disciplines are now all popping in to tell me which key terminology from their fields they repeatedly get wrong, from the deceptively simple to the terrifying.

Doing copy edits for a soon-forthcoming journal article (exciting!) After more than a decade researching in this field, it seems I still can't spell "disability."

What is the point in complaining about #AccessFail s? I’ve had emails from two different train companies today about journeys where assistance went wrong. Both responses come down to “Your fault.” I got a refund so I win (ish), but can we please stop blaming disabled people for poor access support?

Breathing Life: Events to Share Research and Build Community — naomilawsonjacobs.com/breathing-li... News of upcoming events and reflections on work to forget community partnerships and build bridges over the past few months. With thanks to all my incredible collaborators.

I have been given a chocolate moose. (Yes it did take me four hours to get that this is a pun. No I am not embarrassed.) The moose is called Beloning and I am writing a piece about belonging (for neurodivergent people in churches) so I think this is very apt.

Save the date for our upcoming workshop - 8th and 9th January 2026. We welcome autistic people, allies, academics, practitioners, clinicians, education professionals, anyone who cares about autistic interests and flourishing! #AutRes #AutismResearch

I'm excited to be chairing an online symposium on Religions, Faith Communities & Disability on 8th Oct 12-2, as part of Manchester Metropolitan's Learning Disabilities and Autism Research Group seminar series. Speakers and topics in the next post... Details and sign-up link at tinyurl.com/3pdjmn4d 🧵

There is a broken smoke alarm. It has been squealing every 15 seconds for the past seven hours. Right outside the room where I work and sleep. Noise cancelling headphones are only helping so much. The spouse is 5 ft tall and I can’t stand on a ladder so this horror may go on a bit longer 😂

Monserrat (after mountain railway and funicular and ramp to a very high viewpoint. Barcelona is v accessible! Not something I say about many cities)

Webinar - Incredible Women: Chronic Pain, Credibility and Gender Bias - Dr Eilidh Galbraith & panellists Charli Clement, Natalie Busari & Tanya Marlow. I’m on holiday so I’m late sharing this (sorry!) but you can sign up & watch later if you’re too late to join live www.eventbrite.ca/e/webinar-in...

I delivered lived experience-based neurodiversity training today - one of the best things I get to do. The clinicians I was training were curious, engaged, thoughtful & gave me hope for the NHS. It can be exhausting to draw on wells of often-traumatic life experience in training, and 100% worth it.

Tonight was the Fall Welcome in the Disability Cultural Center. It was significant to be in a room full of disabled people and our allies, ready to welcome the year and all it may bring. The connections, joy, and brilliance overflowed - a mighty current we will carry across campus. 💖🌊

At Manchester People’s History Museum for Prof Sara Ryan @sarasiobhan.bsky.social’s book launch- a fitting space of solidarity & social justice for a book that critiques the structural violence that enables the social murder of people with learning disabilities. 1/ www.routledge.com/Critical-Hea...

Pearls: Non-meds treatment for black girls were dismissed due to “extremely limited cognitive, verbal & comprehension skills” Adults respond more harshly to Black girls who display behaviors that don't align w/ standards bias enters into clinical judgment, Dx, assessment & leads to adultification

I'm very pleased that our new narrative review on autism in midlife and old age has now been published in the Annual Review of Developmental Psychology (by me and @proffrancescahappe.bsky.social). We cover a lot of topics... more below! Open access: doi.org/10.1146/annu... #AutRes

Very cool to have a small role on a panel organised by @calebday.bsky.social and Jonathan Dunn at the SSCE conference today, on the future of neurodivergent liberation theology, with great contributors including @krysiawally.bsky.social and @rudyreyes.bsky.social. (1/2)

Prof Chris Hatton has blogged about the recently-released LeDeR Annual Report 2023, including some worrying inconsistencies and trends there. "It looks like less attention and less scrutiny is being paid of the deaths of people with learning disabilities." chrishatton.blogspot.com/2025/09/lede...

Less than 1% of autism research has focused on older autistic people.

"Worship through the lens of Autism" www.sarum.ac.uk/short-course... Join @sarumcollege.bsky.social online to learn with autism theologian, Dr Leon van Ommen about autistic and neurodivergent experiences of worship and becoming more inclusive and enabling. With @autismtheology.bsky.social

Tickets acquired! This disabled-led conference on disability & church is the highlight of my year (& features prominently in my book with @emjric.bsky.social). Will be lovely to reunite with old friends for the first hybrid conference & first at St Martin’s since 2019. I’m preaching on the Sunday :)

Writing with @naomijacobs.bsky.social on the importance of centring Autistic people in autism research. Thanks for hosting us @ndconnection.bsky.social #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs #Autistic #Neurodivergent #Research #AutRes ndconnection.co.uk/blog/empower...

Thanks to @ndconnection.bsky.social where @kmunday.bsky.social and I are guest co-bloggers today! We’re autistic researchers working with autistic people. We reflect on what’s gone wrong with research in the past & what more empowering research looks like. ndconnection.co.uk/blog/empower... #AutRes