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‘A deep, empathetic, wondrous connection’: Autistic adults' definitions and experiences of nature connection

Friedman, Samantha; McHaffie, Sara; Noble, Roan; Stenning, Anna

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Authors

Samantha Friedman

Sara McHaffie

Roan Noble



Abstract

Connection to nature is an important concept for understanding human‐nature relationships, interests in nature and pro‐environmental behaviours. However, conceptualisations of this relationship thus far have excluded autistic perspectives. Through this reflexive thematic analysis of survey responses from 108 autistic participants in the UK, we sought to understand how autistic people define and experience connection to nature. Towards this aim, we developed three themes: ‘feeling that you benefit nature and nature benefits you’; ‘connecting with something ancient to which I nevertheless belong’; and ‘it makes me a little sad tbh.’ Across many participants in this sample, nature was not something they saw as separate from themselves (or from humans more generally), and so connection to nature was not a simple, unidirectional relationship nor a clear‐cut binary. Through this work, we hope to contribute towards the effort to imbue ecopsychology and related fields with the influences of critical disability studies. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Citation

Friedman, S., McHaffie, S., Noble, R., & Stenning, A. (2025). ‘A deep, empathetic, wondrous connection’: Autistic adults' definitions and experiences of nature connection. People and Nature, 7(2), 504-515. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10779

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 22, 2024
Online Publication Date Jan 13, 2025
Publication Date 2025-02
Deposit Date Jan 20, 2025
Publicly Available Date Jan 20, 2025
Journal People and Nature
Print ISSN 2575-8314
Electronic ISSN 2575-8314
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 7
Issue 2
Pages 504-515
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10779
Keywords autism, critical disability studies, connection to nature
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3339487

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