Sharon McCarthy

Sharon has been immersed in the field of autism academically and professionally for over 15 years in a variety of different roles. She is the host of the Autism Journeys Radio Show and Podcasts, a show which has garnered tens of thousands of listens over more than a hundred total episodes. Sharon works alongside a number of different organisations in an educational capacity, acting as course/module author and lecturer in both University College Dublin and the Cork College of FET- Morrison Island Campus, filling the role of course coordinator in the latter position. Additionally, Sharon regularly develops and delivers autism specific neuroaffirmative training across a range of corporate, educational and governmental settings both nationally and internationally. She delivered a TEDx talk in October 2022 which can be viewed at the following link - https://youtu.be/YZgVjR4_pP4.

Sharon works as a professional advocate and tirelessly strives to ensure the autistic ‘voice’ is kept central always. She provides support, advice and mentorship for autistic individuals and their families and she regularly audits and modifies environments to best meet the needs of autistic people at home, in school, university and in the workplace. She has also appeared in a multitude of different speaking roles, speaking to autism best practice both nationally and internationally. Sharon brings a wholly unique perspective to her work, combining her professional expertise, her parental experience as a mother to multiply identified autistic and otherwise neurodivergent children, and her personal journey as a late-identified autistic person and ADHDer to provide holistic and neuroaffirmative input into any project with which she is involved.