3/01/26
Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time, yet the voices most affected are often the least heard. Divergently Together is a shared-island community engagement project that challenges this imbalance by centering disabled and neurodivergent perspectives within climate action, not as an afterthought, but as essential contributors to a just and inclusive transition.
Led by artist AlanJames Burns in partnership with the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics at Dublin City University, the project brings together neurodivergent participants from the Cavan, Fermanagh and Omagh region. Through creative practice, STEM technologies and community-led design, Divergently Together creates space for lived experience to inform how we understand, communicate and act on climate change.
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Disabled and neurodivergent communities are disproportionately impacted by climate change. This can take many forms, from eco-ableism and inaccessible information to increased vulnerability during extreme weather events and the effects of heatwaves on people taking critical medications. Despite this, people with lived experience of disability and neurodiversity remain largely excluded from climate action initiatives.
Divergently Together starts from a different premise: that these communities possess vital knowledge, skills and ways of thinking needed to address the climate crisis. Resilience, resourcefulness and non-linear, creative problem-solving are everyday practices for many neurodivergent individuals navigating a world of barriers. This project recognises those strengths and places them at the centre of climate engagement.
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Through a series of online and in-person creative workshops and discussions, participants worked together to co-design responses to the climate emergency shaped by their own perspectives and experiences. A shared love of nature emerged as a unifying thread, alongside recognition of the role that access to natural environments plays in sensory regulation and wellbeing.
This exploration led the group into the concept of biophilia: the innate human connection to the natural world. Participants reflected on how nature offers rich sensory experiences and how its patterns, rhythms and processes mirror neurodivergence itself. These insights became the foundation for creative work that connected climate action with sensory engagement, care and inclusion.
The project culminated in Unmasking Nature: Foraging for Senses, an outdoor event hosted at Cavan Burren Park. Designed and delivered by the participants themselves, this guided sensory tour invited the public to experience the landscape through a series of “deep dive” stations.
Each station reflected what participants had explored during the project, focusing on different intersections of neurodiversity and nature. The route was carefully designed with accessibility in mind and encouraged visitors to engage through sensory exploration, stimming and emotional cartography. Contributions from professionals in areas such as fungi, foraging and biophilia complemented the participants’ own knowledge, placing lived experience alongside specialist expertise.
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A key strand of Divergently Together involved collaboration with the Climate Action Teams at Cavan County Council and Fermanagh & Omagh District Council. Together, the project team, participants and local authorities examined the accessibility of existing climate policies and communications.
This process identified barriers faced by neurodivergent and disabled communities and explored practical ways to make climate action plans more inclusive and easier to engage with. By bringing policymakers into direct conversation with people with lived experience, the project helped build mutual understanding and equipped decision-makers with tools to improve accessible communication.
Another major stakeholder was the UNESCO Global Cuilcagh Lakelands Geopark, which spans the North/South border through Cavan and Fermanagh. With over 50 natural sites and a network of local businesses, the Geopark provided an ideal setting for in-person workshops and shared the project’s commitment to accessibility and inclusivity.
As part of this collaboration, Divergently Together supported the Geopark in developing ‘Know Before You Go’ accessibility guides, offering visitors clear, practical information about what to expect before arriving. The Geopark plans to roll out these guides across all its sites, embedding the project’s learning into future communications, planning and visitor experience.
Beyond the core workshops, the project hosted a full-day event on Accessible Communication as a Skillful and Creative Practice, bringing together partners from the arts, disability, climate, government, research and community sectors. The session strengthened cross-sector collaboration and positioned accessibility as a creative practice in its own right.
Another lasting element of the project is the Unmasking Nature Sensory Burrow, a nature-based sensory and quiet space designed for public events. Foraged from Ireland’s landscapes, the Sensory Burrow offers a space for rest, regulation and grounding, presenting an alternative to clinical or plastic sensory environments while continuing the project’s exploration of authenticity and neurodivergent ways of being.
Support from Creative Ireland was integral to the project’s development. Crucially, the flexibility of this support allowed Divergently Together to evolve at its own pace. Co-designing with neurodivergent communities meant there was no fixed or linear roadmap; instead, the project grew organically in response to participants’ interests, needs and ways of working.
For participants, the impact of Divergently Together was deeply personal as well as collective. One co-designer reflected:
“I’ve spent my life constantly being judged and criticised and not treated very well by people around me. To protect my mental health I cut myself off from people, kept my distance. I didn’t have to do that on this project. I could be me and feel accepted. To join this project has given me hope for my future. I have felt at peace surrounded by like-minded people who love and enjoy nature and are also passionate in looking after our environment. I’ve grown closer to nature and understand more of what I’m looking at and spending time with.”
Divergently Together demonstrates that inclusive climate action is not only possible, it is richer, more creative and more effective when grounded in lived experience. By uniting neurodivergent communities, artists, policymakers and places across borders, the project offers a powerful model for a more just and connected climate future.
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