Dr. Holly E.A. Sutherland

@heasutherland.com

2727 Followers 708 Following

audhd postdoctoral researcher @Cambridge_Uni // currently midrash, reading diversity, and creativity // generally autism, neurodiversity, mixed methods

An academic poster presented at INSAR 2026.
A promotional image with a teal background and a headshot of Dr Holly Sutherland, a white woman with short curly hair, wearing glasses and a collared white shirt with black jumper smiling at the camera, in a circular orange frame. White text on the image reads: CfAA Symposium speaker: Dr Holly Sutherland. Dr Holly E.A. Sutherland is an AuDHD researcher and postdoctoral research associate at the University of Cambridge. Her PhD at the University of Edinburgh looked at autistic people’s social communication from the autistic perspective, and investigated ways in which non-autistic people might misunderstand or struggle to interact with autistic people. In our 'Human AI Teaming - whose voices are missing' session Dr Sutherland will explore the need to ensure all voices are considered when it comes to human-AI teaming and what challenges this may bring. Join us 23-25 September 2025
Screenshot of some text: "The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule both exemplifies contemporary pressures toward the routinization and standardization of social life, and enforces the imperative to render those pressures invis ible by manifesting social behavior that appears sufficiently “spontaneous” and not inappropriately “scripted.” As such, it equates social health with a particular contemporary form of authenticity, characterized by a linked pair of cultural imperatives: the requirement to adjust one’s behavior to a precise set of social norms, while simultaneously making it appear as though one were acting purely out of one’s own immediate, spontaneous, and internally generated inclinations. An autistic mode of engagement is incompatible with these imperatives, because the cultural products that structure behavior remain obdurately visible as such, thus confronting us with the rigid, repetitive, routinized forms that populate and order our social lives. We are inevitably shaped by the ways in which we have shaped our surroundings"
A picture of a sentence. It reads: "The other resources that could be accessed are the National Autistic Society website on www.nas.org.uk"
Screenshot of a webpage with four talks listed about neurodiversity and neuroaffirmative practice for autism, for the National Autistic Society, Therapist Neurodiversity Collective, and Middletown Centre for Autism. Dates times titles etc. are available at the link provided.
A poster for the National Autistic Society's Annual Professionals conference. It is various shades of pink, and has the text: "Exploring the principles of neuroaffirmative practice. 13th March 2025. I'm speaking at the National Autistic Society Annual Professional's Conference 2025. Holly E.A. Sutherland. Tickets available at: www.autism.org.uk/conference." It also has a headshot picture of a white woman with a short buzzcut and gold glasses against a blue background.
A screenshot of a beige powerpoint slide with a prism and a rainbow on it. The title is "Ethnography, neurodiversity, and high support needs", by Holly E.A. Sutherland at the University of Cambridge. There are links to the author's socials: heasutherland.com , heas2@cam.ac.uk , and @heasutherland. There are funding logos for the University of Edinburgh, Medical Research Scotland, and Scottish autism.
A screenshot of the Eventbrite page for a talk titled "Qualitatively eliciting the 'voice' of non-speaking neurodiverse people". The talk is at 12-1pm GMT, Thursday January 30th, online. It is free to reserve a ticket. The talk description reads: Our session will appeal to researchers interested in using qualitative methods with participants who may be non-speaking or minimally verbal. The talk is hosted by Methods North West.
Screenshot of some text. It reads "I've had the same editor since 1967. Many times he has said to me over the years or asked me, Why would you use a semicolon instead of a colon? And many times over the years I have said to him things like: I will never speak to you again. Forever. Goodbye. That is it. Thank you very much. And I leave. Then I read the pieve and I think of his suggestions. I send him a telegram that says, OK, so you're right. So what? Don't ever mention this to me again. If you do, I will never speak to you again." The text is attributed at the bottom to Maya Angelou.
Picture of a longhaired, seal-point cat curled up into a ball on a quilt, which is draped over my lap.
Screenshot of the first slide of a powerpoint. The title of the talk is on a rainbow-splattered post-it note: "What does the neurodiversity paradigm have to say about autistic people with high support needs?" Underneath is the author name: "Holly Sutherland, University of Cambridge". There are contact details off to the side: website heasutherland.com email heas2@cam.ac.uk social media @heasutherland
Screenshot of a colourful blue and yellow powerpoint slide. It says "Friendships, fear, and (double) empathy: an ethnography of social care services for autistic people with high support needs. Holly Sutherland, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Cambridge". It includes a website link (heasutherland.com), an email (heas2@cam.ac.uk) and a social media username for twitter & bsky (heasutherland).
A long-haired cat sat on a mouse pad, almost on top of the mouse. She is seal-pointed (grey-cream with black face and ears), and is very, very fluffy with rumpled fur and and extremely long whiskers and eyebrow hairs. She is looking directly at the camera with her blue eyes slightly squinted and a disdainful look on her face.
Photograph of a window overlooking some flat buildings, with the top edge of a computer monitor in the foreground. Between the monitor and the window, a number of wild-looking tomato plants protrude from above the top edge of the screen.