About Sandra
Sandra Thom-Jones is an autistic author, artisan, academic and advocate. She provides consultancy services to education, employment and healthcare providers, and supports for autistic people, through her consultancy Autistic Professor.
Sandra is the author of Growing in to Autism (MUP, 2022), the mother of two adult autistic sons, and a passionate champion for the inclusion of autistic people in all aspects of society.
Sandra has undertaken numerous research projects in partnership with the autistic community on the experiences of autistic people and the knowledge and attitudes towards autism in the community; including research that won the Autism CRC’s 2019 and 2021 awards for research translation and 2022 award for inclusive research.
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Prior to establishing Autistic Professor, she worked for more than two decades as a university researcher and educator, and held numerous leadership roles, most recently as Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research Impact at ACU.
About Alex
Alex is Sandra's alter-ego (and younger self). She is proudly autistic and keen to educate neurotypicals about just how awesome autistics are.
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Alex (original name Mimi) is a resin ball jointed doll created by the very talented doll artist Linda Macario, and we are both very grateful to Linda for allowing Alex to be the face of our autism inclusion message.
You can find out more about Linda and her dolls here:
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