2025 marked the 4th year of the Autism Acceptance Festival, where NCI, DCU, ATU Sligo, DKIT, NCAD and CCT worked together again to host a series of public-facing events to centre autistic people and promote autism acceptance.
This year’s Autism Acceptance Festival took place over the week of March 24th to March 27th, 2025. It was a busy, engaging week filled with online talks on key topics such as Autistic Staff Experiences in Higher Education, Towards Autism Friendly Neighbourhoods, Libraries and the Autistic Community, and Harnessing Neurodiversity in the Modern Workplace. These talks were panelled by excellent speakers who were delighted to share their insights and research, all united by the shared determination to ensure that all workplaces, study spaces, and just communities at large continue to become more inclusive, welcoming, and safe so that everyone can thrive.
You can access these talks and further resources by visiting NCI’s Past Events & Resources page.
Looking back at this year’s #DivergentMinds creations
Divergent Minds is a digital exhibition of visual art, poetry, multimedia, film and other creative work that took place across the Autism Acceptance Festival on the social media channels of all participating HEIs. They appeared at 11am each day, to encourage people to share their coffee break with some neurodivergent creativity.
This year saw some incredibly striking and thoughtful submissions, and we would like to thank everyone who put forward their pieces. Not only did they share their art, but they shared why these pieces were created, giving everyone an insight into their personal experiences too.
You can click here to look through and enjoy this year’s #DivergentMinds submissions if you missed them going out live.
Spreading awareness
Teresa Murray, Head of Communcations at NCI, spoke about this year’s Autism Acceptance Festival and its importance on 92.5 Phoenix FM.
In this interview, Teresa explains how the Autism Acceptance Festival came to be as well as sharing insights about how being an AsIAm accredited Autism Friendly institution is an always evolving commitment, and finally, she shares how the bigger aim of this event is to not only raise awareness about autism acceptance in higher education, in our communities, and at work, but to continuously advocate for inclusivity and awareness, so that people don’t just simply exist in certain spaces, but are supported to thrive in the wider world.
You can listen to Teresa Murray speak about the Autism Acceptance Festival on 92.5 Phoenix FM by tuning in here.
At National College of Ireland, we are delighted to see the Autism Acceptance Festival continue to progress and evolve each year, and we are very proud to be involved and to continue to be an Autism Friendly HEI.
#ChangingLivesThroughEducation