Helen Ellis

Helen received her formal diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome aged 21 (2009) whilst in her penultimate year of her undergraduate degree. She was self-diagnosed from the age of 15 and took some time to convince both herself and then a doctor of the need for a formal diagnosis.

Helen has worked in the autism field for a number of years now, both as a professional and as an advocate for her community. She is a member of the Westminster Autism Commission, on the All Party Parliamentary Group for Autism (APPGA) advisory group. She has spoken at a number of conferences and training sessions over the years, predominantly focussing on late diagnosis, school and employment experiences and sensory issues.

Helen is passionate about the need for people to self-advocate and share their positive and negative experiences of being Autistic with the world; as such, she is a regular user of Twitter and has a blog sharing her viewpoint as a person on the spectrum along with her many thoughts on rugby union. Helen is in the process of writing an information and advice book on the topics of ‘Autism Fatigue’ and ‘Social Hangovers’, as these are two things that affect her greatly in her life and the choices she has to make each day.
Outside of the Autism world, Helen spends a lot of time on the road/tracks visiting family and friends around the country and following the fortunes of Saracens Rugby club at various home and away fixtures. She loves to challenge herself to try new and scary things every now and again; anything from tandem skydiving to travelling solo to the USA for a week!

Lorraine MacAlister

Lorraine is an Autism Training Consultant who has worked with autistic people and their families throughout her career and is passionate about increasing understanding of autism. Joining The National Autistic Society in 2005, Lorraine has delivered a variety of autism training to both professionals and families, covering a range of topics including sensory differences, continence, sexuality and women and girls. She has lectured on autism at a variety of UK Universities and has spoken at several conferences on autism and related subjects.

Her publications include Toilet Training and the Autism Spectrum: A Guide for Professionals (2016) with Dr Eve Fleming, Toileting problems in children with autism (2014) in The Nursing Times, and the NAS Teen Life workbook. Lorraine developed the new NAS Teen Life parent support programme and accompanying Licensed User Training, and has written a variety of articles on Network Autism, covering topics such as catastrophising and toileting difficulties.

Lorraine’s most recent project is as one of the content writers for the NAS’s newest online training module on autism in women and girls, which launched in March 2018.

“My favourite part of the job is the opportunities I get to constantly learn more about autism, often from autistic people themselves, and to share that knowledge with those who come on my training”.