National Autistic Taskforce Executive
Kabie Brook
Autistic activist, mother & campaigner, Kabie has 30 years experience working paid and unpaid with and for Autistic people of all ages and perceived ability. Kabie has specialised in supporting people labelled as having ‘challenging behaviour’ and is passionate about educating people to understand the communication styles and self advocacy attempts that can often be ignored and labelled as ‘challenging’. Kabie is cofounder and current chairperson of ARGH – Autism Rights Group Highland, a collective advocacy, lobbying and campaigning group of Autistic adults whose projects include a UK wide alert card. Kabie sits on the national Scottish Government Autism Strategy review Group as well as being involved with other national and local organisations including, ASK (Autistic Space Kit), the Inverness Access Panel and also holds a community advisor role for Police Scotland.
Karen Leneh Buckle
Leneh approaches autism research from a hard science background with degrees in neuroscience, psychology and bioethics. Having previously been awarded a Nuffield undergraduate research bursary for sensory processing in autism, and Wellcome Trust funded MA in bioethics, she is currently undertaking a funded PhD at the University of Manchester looking at initiation impairments in autism. She is also a founder of Autscape, mother of 5, speaker and trainer when she gets the chance. She is currently a member of Autistica’s scientific review panel and project co-ordinator for the National Autistic Taskforce.
Dr Yo Dunn
Yo Dunn is an independent trainer and consultant (www.consultyo.com) who works across the public sector (primarily in social care and education) with specialisms in autism and law. She has expertise on the legal framework of adult social care in particular and on a range of areas of public law relevant to the lives of autistic people including Mental Capacity law; Deprivation of liberty; Care Act; Safeguarding; commissioning; Special Educational Needs and Disability Law; health law; data protection; equality and human rights law. She provides training and consults for many English local authorities and other clients. She has a background in social policy analysis and a thorough working knowledge of professional practice issues in both adult and children’s services. She is autistic, a parent of autistic children and is deeply involved in the adult self-advocate community, having retired after many years as company secretary of Autscape. Yo is currently serving as legal and policy consultant to the National Autistic Taskforce.
Dr Damian Milton
Damian works part-time for the Tizard Centre, University of Kent as a Lecturer in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and for the National Autistic Society (NAS) as Autism Knowledge and Expertise Consultant. Damian also teaches on the MA Education (Autism) programme at London South Bank University and has been a consultant for the Transform Autism Education (TAE) project and a number of projects for the Autism Education Trust (AET). Damian’s interest in autism began when his son was diagnosed in 2005 as autistic at the age of two. Damian was also diagnosed with Asperger’s in 2009 at the age of thirty-six. Damian’s primary focus is on increasing the meaningful participation of autistic people and people with learning disabilities in the research process and chairs the Participatory Autism Research Collective (PARC). In January 2018, Damian also took up the role of Project Leader on the National Autistic Taskforce (NAT).
National Autistic Taskforce Strategy Board
Dr Larry Arnold
Larry Arnold has a long record in disability advocacy going back more than thirty years. He was extensively involved in information provision in the 1980’s and 90’s having authored guides to service provision and designed research projects investigating the prevalence of disability in Coventry. His association with autism has included 9 years service on the board of the National Autistic Society as well as continuing involvement peer advocacy and support. More recently he has been concerned with the ethical aspects of autism research and what the implications are for the autistic community. His academic interests and qualifications span Education, Disability Studies and Media Studies. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Dr James Cusack
James Cusack is Director of Science for Autistica, having joined Autistica in September 2015 following a career in autism research at the University of Aberdeen. From a young age James has also worked directly with families affected by autism, as well as having experience in clinical, educational and social care settings. James has sat on a number of advisory panels discussing the role of research in autism, and was vocal in the production of the report, ‘A Future Made Together’. He was part of a core stakeholder group which successfully campaigned for Scotland’s first ever autism strategy. James has also been a member of Autistica’s Science Review Panel since January 2014. He is proud to lead on Autistica’s strong, community-driven research strategy.
Ann Harber
Ann Harber has lived in NHS services for most of her life. Now middle aged, she is interested in using technology, swimming and socialising; Ann is autistic with learning disabilities.
Ryan Hendry
In 2012, Ryan set up awareness group Holding out a Hand in his native Northern Ireland to raise awareness of Autism amongst the general population, and particularly in teenagers. He studied Law and Politics at Queen’s University Belfast. He was diagnosed with autism in primary school, and also has ADHD. He joined Autistic UK in May 2017 and currently serves as Press Officer.
Josh Hennessy
Josh is autistic and has worked as a support worker for autistic people (and people with other disabilities) for ten years. He has been a committee member of Autism Rights Group Highland for two years. He is interested in mental capacity law and supporting service users on all parts of the spectrum to develop autonomy. He has an autistic son. His academic background is in philosophy.
Willow Holloway
Willow is an independent learner and researcher with an interest in social history, disability rights and how disability has been viewed by society throughout our history. Living in North Wales, Willow is an elected Director of Disability Wales in the role of vice chair.
Previously a key worker for adults with autism and learning difficulties, and a mum to four, Willow has vast experience in supporting disabled children and adults, driving her concerns that disabled people’s rights are being overlooked.
In addition to her lived experiences as a disabled person and in advocating for her children, Willow has great insight into the barriers that society can create. With her passion for equality and diversity and desire to engage disabled people and carers with understanding their rights, Willow always aims to create positive change for others.
In Jan 2014 Willow founded The Autistic Women’s Empowerment Project. This is a user-led network for women with social and communication challenges including Autism and is currently campaigning for an Autism Act for Wales.
Katie Nurse
Katie Nurse is Ann Haber’s support person; she has worked with people on the autism spectrum for 18 years and has a Masters degree in Autism.
Dr Dinah Murray
Dinah Murray is an independent researcher and campaigner, former tutor for Birmingham University’s distance learning courses on autism (adults) and former support worker for people with varied learning disabilities, including autism. Tutoring involved reading and critiquing hundreds of practitioner research projects. Her work has been published in Autism, in Good Autism Practice, in a number of books and on-line; she has presented at numerous conferences (world-wide) on varied themes related to autism, including several years of Autscape, an annual conference cum retreat run by and for autistic people. Her autism-related research interests have included: medication and its impact on quality of life; information technology for people who don’t use speech; the ethics of autism research; the nature of the human being, with a particular focus on interests. She has been assessed as on the autism spectrum, and if growing up today would certainly have attracted an autism diagnosis.
Dr Catriona Stewart
Catriona Stewart chairs SWAN (Scottish Women’s Autism Network) which offers peer-support and advice and is committed to increasing knowledge and understanding. Currently Academic Advisor to Scottish Autism’s Right Click programme, she is conducting ongoing research into women and girls. She gives talks and training, and has had input into a range of consultations, publications and reports, including presenting to a committee of UN Women. Findings from her study on girls with Asperger’s were published in GAP, 2012. In 2015 SWAN delivered two ground-breaking Learning Events for autistic women/girls, families/carers and practitioners at Strathclyde University with Autism Network Scotland. Catriona is working towards her 2nd MSc, an applied research degree in Gender Studies at Stirling University.