About me

I am currently studying for a part time PhD in Psychology and am undertaking longitudinal research into the mental health experiences of autistic university students. In May 2013, I graduated from The University of Birmingham with a Distinction in an M(ed) Autism.

I have worked in a number of roles supporting autistic people and their families for over 25 years. For the last 10 years, I have worked as a Specialist Autism Mentor, supporting autistic university students to overcome any barriers to their learning and to support their positive wellbeing. During this time, and through employment as a Mental Health Practitioner at The University of Wolverhampton, I became aware of the challenges that autistic students face at university and some of the barriers that they experienced in accessing relevant support. This, together with the experience and knowledge that autism can bring strengths that enable people to be very successful at university such as ability to hyper focus on areas of specific interest, was the motivation for my PhD research. I am very passionate about Participatory Research after many years of working as an advocate for various charities, promoting the importance of working in partnership with community groups and in listening to and acting upon voices of marginalised groups.

In August 2022, I started employment as a lecturer in Health and Social Care at University College Birmingham. I will use my personal and professional experience to motivate, inspire and develop future graduates in health and social care.

I have a 22 year old autistic daughter so have lived experience which motivates me to improve services and support for autistic people and to promote the neurodiversity ethos of autism being a different, but not lesser, ability.

I have a labradoodle dog called Alfie who is very greedy and will eat practically anything and loves walks, sticks and balls.

My PhD research is supervised by Dr Jagjeet Jutley-Neilson and Dr Carla Toro.

First name: Ellie
Last name: Horton
Email address: Elizabeth.Horton@Warwick.Ac.Uk

Ellie Horton