Matias Solorzano

Matias Solorzano is a first-year PhD student in the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education at UW-Madison. Matias holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology with a concentration in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from California State University, East Bay. He also holds a Master of Arts degree in Psychology with a concentration in Academic Research from California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. Matias is trilingual, speaking Spanish, French, and English. His mother’s side of the family is from France, and his father’s side of the family is from Guatemala.

Matias identifies as an autistic adult, and the autistic identity informs his research. Matias is interested in investigating the transition to adulthood in employment among autistic individuals. He wants to connect more autistic individuals to services such as vocational rehabilitation, as these resources are currently underutilized by autistic adults. Matias plans to merge the transition and disability identity development research to learn more about the experiences of autistic adults who have an autism diagnosis but do not access services or have a strong autistic identity. At UW-Madison, he will work with his advisor, Dr. Allison Lombardi, to help autistic individuals and their families through his research.