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Dr Gemma Williams

A head and shoulders image of Gemma Williams from BSMS on a black background

Dr Gemma Williams (MA, PhD)

Honorary Visiting Lecturer
E: G.Williams2@bsms.ac.uk

Area of expertise: Neurodiversity; Autism; Qualitative research; Autoethnography; Insider research; Creative Methods; Cognitive Linguistics; Social Justice; Social Policy, Social Model of Disability; Flow States; Sensory Environments

Research areas: The experiences of neurodivergent people accessing healthcare; Other matters of social justice or epistemic empowerment in relation to neurodivergent people; Inclusive education; Loneliness; Autistic reproductive health; Communication; Flow States; Social model of disability; Neurodivergent sensory processing; Sensory environments; Time For Autism

Other relevant positions: Member of the Westminster Commission on Autism; Associate Member of the Heasman Flow Lab (York St John University).

Preferred gender pronouns: She/they

Personal website >

Biography

Dr Gemma Williams is an interdisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of cognition, linguistics, and critical neurodiversity studies. A first-generation scholar and autistic insider researcher, she focuses on advancing social justice and improving the quality of life of neurodivergent people through participatory and co-productive approaches. Her PhD examined the ‘Double Empathy Problem’ through the lens of cognitive linguistics and relevance theory.

At BSMS, Gemma collaborates on the Time for Autism programme and the working group extending the initiative into the School of Education. Her work integrates lived experience and critical disability studies to inform more inclusive approaches to healthcare and professional education.

Gemma is a member of the Westminster Commission on Autism and an Associate Member of the Heasman Flow Lab at York St John University. Alongside her academic research, she has contributed to a number of national commissioned reports and inquiries improving service provision for autistic and neurodivergent people in healthcare settings and supported accommodation. 

She is the author of Understanding Others in a Neurodiverse World (Pavilion, 2024) and Neurodiversity in English Language Teaching: A Primer (Pavilion ELT, forthcoming 2026). She also shares her work through public engagement, including Seed Talks events, her Neurodiverse Universe Substack and accompanying podcast Beyond the Abstract.

Research

Gemma is a qualitative researcher whose work spans cognition, linguistics, and critical neurodiversity studies. She uses participatory and creative methods to examine how neurodivergent experiences are shaped by social, sensory, and structural contexts, with the wider aim of promoting equity and enabling neurodivergent flourishing.

Her research interests include:

  • Autistic communication and the Double Empathy Problem
  • Healthcare access for neurodivergent people
  • Loneliness and belonging
  • Homelessness and social exclusion
  • Autistic women and AFAB people’s reproductive health
  • Sensory environments and design for neurodiversity
  • Autistic flow states and wellbeing
  • Inclusive education

Her ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship in Social Policy (University of Brighton) expanded her doctoral work through a series of co-produced outputs: policy recommendations for health and social care, an animated research-translation series created with autistic artists, and a monograph on cross-neurotype communication.

Gemma’s publications appear in journals including Autism, Neurodiversity, Autism in Adulthood, Frontiers in Psychology, Journal of Pragmatics, Psychology & Neuroscience and Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour. 

She welcomes supervision enquiries on projects aligned with her research areas.

Teaching

Gemma has a background in English language teaching, holding an MA in English Language Teaching (University of Sussex). Her teaching spans higher education (University of Brighton), further education (Brighton MET and DV8 Sussex), and professional training contexts, with experience delivering undergraduate modules, English for Academic and Professional Purposes, and teacher development.

Beyond formal education, Gemma regularly delivers lectures and professional training on communication and neurodiversity for healthcare professionals, educators, and researchers and organisations. Recent examples include sessions for NHS England, the Therapist Neurodiversity Collective (USA), Energia Group (Ireland), Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, and NHS London. 

Selected publications

Heasman, B., Williams, G. L. Charura, D., Hamilton, L., Milton, D., Vaughan, R., (2024) Towards autistic flow theory: A non-pathologising conceptual approach. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12427

Williams, G. L., Ellis, R., Holloway, W., Caemawr, S., Craine, M., Williams, K., Grant, A. (2024) ‘Building our own house’ as an insider-only Community Partnered Participatory Research Council: co-creating a safe space for Autistic knowledge production. Autism. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613241253014

Quadt, L.*, Williams, G. L.*, Mulcahy, J. S., Silva, M., Larsson, D. E. O., Arnold, A., Critchely, H. D..  Garfinkel, S. N. (2023). “I’m trying to reach out, I’m trying to find my people”: a mixed-methods investigation of loneliness and loneliness distress in autistic adults Autism in Adulthood. Online ahead of print. http://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2022.0062

Manning, C., Williams, G. L. & MacLennan, K. (2023). Sensory-inclusive spaces for autistic people: We need to build the evidence base (Editorial). Autism, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613231183541

Williams, G. L., Corbyn, J., Hart, A. (2023) Being overwhelmed instead of supported: Improving the sensory environments of mental health in-patient facilities for autistic children. Child Care In Practice (Promoting the Well-Being of Children on the Autism Spectrum – Special Issue). 29(1), 35-53: https://doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2022.2126437 

Proff, I., Williams, G.L., Quadt, L., Garfinkel, S. (2021) Sensory processing in autism across exteroceptive and interoceptive domains.  Psychology & Neuroscience. 15(2): 105–130. https://doi.org/10.1037/pne0000262

Williams, G. L. (2021) Theory of autistic mind: A refreshed relevance theoretic account of so-called autistic pragmatic ‘impairment’. Journal of Pragmatics, 180 (1): 121- 130

Williams, G.L. Wharton, T. and Jagoe, C. (2021) Mutual (mis)understanding: reframing autistic pragmatic ‘impairments’ using relevance theory. Frontiers in Psychology. Autism: Innovations and Future Directions in Psychological Research (12): 616664. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.616664

Botha, M., Hanlon, J. and Williams, G. L. (2021) Does language matter? Identity-first versus person-first language use in autism research: A response to Vivanti. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04858-w

Williams, G. L. (2020) From anonymous subject to engaged stakeholder: Enriching participant experience in autistic-language-use research. Research For All, 4 (2): 314–28

Full list of publications available on Google Scholar. 

See more on Google Scholar >