Participants in the NatureAware project delivered individual actions all across Sotland, and co-created a beautiful short film exploring autistic joy and nature connection
- NatureAware - Participant Projects
In the summer of 2024, SWAN launched a new NatureAware project in partnership with Earthself Community Interest Company, funded by the Scottish Government's Climate Engagement Fund.
Since then, a group of participants from the SWAN network have been developing their own projects across Scotland to promote nature connection and climate protection - exploring how to engage their communities in protecting the environment, in a way that feels true to our autistic identities.
Their individual projects included:
Online nature writing workshops; a nature-positive personal development webinar; a blog leading a journey of connection with nature; articles in local magazines calling the local community to action in Highland Perthshire; a nature-positive geocaching project in Dundee; native wildflower seed distribution in Dumfries and Galloway; a map guiding a local nature walk in Glasgow; a year-long nature bingo calendar, wildflower meadow planting and swift nest-box building in Tayside; and the development of a local wildlife code on Arran.
- NatureAware Project - Short Film
As part of the project, participants worked with a filmmaker to produce this beautiful short film, which explores autistic joy, why SWAN and Earthself wanted to run this project, and why nature connection and climate protection are so especially important to us as autistic people.
Our impact film is a co-created project, weaving together project participants’ own footage and narratives to craft a collective exploration of autistic love for nature. It reveals what’s possible when we are free to express ourselves freely, authentically, and beyond neurotypical norms.
