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Sandra Yellowhorse is a Diné citizen of the Navajo Nation. She is a critical Indigenous disability studies scholar committed to disability justice. She recieved her PhD in Education from Waipapa Taumata Rau (the University of Auckland) in the School of Māori and Indigenous Education. She holds a Master of Arts in American Studies from the University of New Mexico. Her scholarly expertise focuses on Indigenous perspectives of disability and autism to reach across transdisciplinary fields including Indigenous Education, Inclusive Education, public health, sociology, law, history, Indigenous and Native American studies. She advances relational research through community-based collaboration with Indigenous nations from North America to Aotearoa New Zealand. Her scholarly work elevates the knowledge, stories and wisdom of Indigenous Peoples at the intersections of disability, autism, AuDHD, and Indigenous identity.

Yellowhorse leads two large research projects hosted by the Waipapa Taumata Rau. She is a New Zealand Health Research Council (HRC) Emerging Scholar and Principal Investigator for the project Cultivating Wellbeing Through Indigenous Perspectives of Autism in Aotearoa. Grounded in cultural knowledge and first-person experiences, this project creates accessible literature for parents, Autistic people and community members centering narratives of love to reframe understandings of autism. These views support both the health and disability sector to create cultural safety. She is also the Principal Investigator for a project generously funded by the Spencer Foundation Small Grant, exploring Indigenous perspectives of Inclusive Education in Indigenous Schools. Both of these projects uplift Indigenous voices, family and lived experience stories to journey alongside the community in the co-creation of better systems that work for Indigenous Peoples.

Yellowhorse served as the Guest Editor for the Wicazo Sa Reivew Special Issue on Indigeneity and Disability published by the University of Minnesota Press. This two-volume collection was the first Indigenous-led journal that explored Indigenous perspectives of disability, neurodiversity and care from the foundation of Indigenous community, ancestral knowledge and teachings. Sandra currently serves at the Co-Editor for AlterNative: An International Journal for Indigenous People, an academic journal that promotes research on Indigenous worldviews and experiences of decolonization from Indigenous perspectives. She is the founder of the International Network of Neurodiversity and Disability Scholars, who build momentum and solidarity across disciplinary fields and Indigenous nations. She is currently a Research Fellow at Waipapa Taumata Rau.

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