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Call for Submissions to #DivergentMinds

02/02/2024 11:00 - 03/03/2024 00:00
Event date: 02/02/2024 11:00 - 03/03/2024 00:00 Export to calendar

Autism Acceptance Festival

DCU, NCI and ATU Sligo are, respectively, the first, second and third HEIs in Ireland to receive AsIAm designation as Autism Friendly HEIs. This year, CCT, DkIT and NCAD are in the processing of applying for this designation.

In 2024, we six higher education institutes are proud to work together to host the first Autism Acceptance Festival, a series of public-facing events to centre autistic people and promote autism acceptance. All events will be online and free to attend.

Learn more about the speakers in this event and find more events in this series by visiting our Festival Hub.

#DivergentMinds Event

Do you have a creative piece you’d like to share with the world?  The #DivergentMinds project could be just right for you! 

What: ‘Divergent Minds’ is a digital exhibition showcasing neurodivergent students’ creative work on social media and other digital platforms collected under the hashtag #DivergentMinds.

Who: YOU! Neurodivergent students from NCI, DCU, ATU, CCT, DkIT and NCAD are invited to submit a creative piece (e.g. poetry, prose, blogs, visual arts such as paintings, animations, photos, video etc).

Format Info: Images/Videos should be as high a resolution/as big as possible. Stick with common file types such as JPG, PNG, MP3, MP4, PDF or Word. If sending text feel free to format it /tailor it to your preferences, but also include a plain text version for us.

Why: To demonstrate the variety and creativity of our neurodivergent community.

How: Email your submission to Sam Mooney before Friday 1st March.

Important notes:

  1. Your submission can be anonymous, or we can include your name. Have a think about this in advance. If you do not specify a preference, anonymity will be the default.
  2. If you are autistic, please let us know that we can also use the #ActuallyAutistic hashtag.
  3. Initially published on the NCI social media channels at 11am each day, all other participating HEIs will be tagged for sharing. Images will appear on Instagram, X (Twitter) and Facebook.
  4. Work will subsequently be archived on the Autism Acceptance Festival landing page as part of the record of the 2025 Festival. You can request removal at any time by contacting NCI 
  5. You can see some examples from last year here 

Event Details

Time: 11am
Date: Daily from Monday 4th March

Other Events

If you are interested in finding out more about our other events, please visit our Festival Hub to check out what is happening.