Dr Carly Jones MBE is an award-winning independent advocate, advisor, speaker, and leader who has dedicated her career to improving the lives of autistic people since 2008. Raised in a teenage mother and baby homeless hostel in Bracknell, Carly’s personal experiences have shaped her unwavering commitment to equality, safeguarding, and systemic change. Following the diagnosis of two of her daughters as autistic, and later receiving her own autism diagnosis in adulthood, she developed a specialist focus on gender equality in autism and the lived experiences of autistic women and girls.

Drawing on her own experiences navigating education, healthcare, employment, and personal safety as an undiagnosed autistic young woman, Carly has become one of the UK’s most influential voices in autism advocacy. Her work spans policy, safeguarding, accessibility, trauma-informed practice, co-production, and inclusion across public, private, and third-sector organisations both nationally and internationally.

In 2014, Carly became the first British autistic woman to address the United Nations on the rights of autistic women. She has since continued to contribute to international disability rights discussions through the UN’s CEDAW committee. Her policy and advisory work has informed national strategies and publications through organisations including the UK Parliament, the Department for Education, and the UN Office of Human Rights.

Carly has held numerous high-profile leadership and advisory roles, including Chair of Aviation and Maritime DPTAC working groups for the Department for Transport, Co-Production Lead for NHS England’s Learning Disability and Autism Programme, and Chair of the Executive Steering Group overseeing the pilot of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in Learning Disability and Autism. She also serves as an Independent Panel Member for the Ministry of Justice, contributing to recruitment for major public appointments across the justice system.

Her expertise has led her to advise organisations including the BBC, Heathrow Airport, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Motability, and the Cabinet Office, while also guest lecturing at leading universities including Sheffield Hallam, University of Cambridge and University of Oxford.

Recognised for her exceptional contribution, Carly was awarded an MBE in 2017, became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2019, and received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Sheffield Hallam University in 2022. Through her advocacy, writing, and leadership, Carly continues to drive meaningful change toward a safer, more inclusive, and equitable world for autistic people and their families. She is a proud Patron of Lotus, a Sheffield-based charity which supports autistic survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence