On today's episode I am very excited to chat to special guest Dr James Cusack. James is the Chief Executive at Autistica which is the UK’s leading national autism research charity. He joined the charity in September 2015 as Director of Science following a career in autism research at the University of Aberdeen, and he later became Chief Executive there in 2020 and is the first openly autistic CEO of a major charity.

Autistica focus on enabling autistic people to live happy, healthy, long lives. They do this by by working with autistic people to understand their needs, funding research and shaping policy.

In this episode, James talks about Autistica’s six visionary and ambitious 2030 Goals for the change they want to see in society and how they are trying to use research to understand what works and what doesn’t when it comes to changing the public’s attitudes towards autism and autistic people.

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.

It was great to chat to James a bit more about Autistica as well as more about himself and his background.

Autistica Links:

• Autistica's 2030 Goals: https://www.autistica.org.uk/about-us/2030
• The blog post on understanding that James mentioned (which he wrote): https://www.autistica.org.uk/blog/understanding
• Website: https://www.autistica.org.uk
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/autistica
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/autisticauk/
• Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com//company/autistica
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOczrUsUjmBbUMPT0HIgGKg
• Donate: https://www.autistica.org.uk/donate/donate

Dr James Cusack Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamcusack
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cusackjames
• More about James and the Autistica team: https://www.autistica.org.uk/about-us/our-team