Skinner, Chris ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8853-9606, Clark, Simon, Bastos, Ana, Turc, Lucile, Beth, Arnaud and Cristina Vasquez, Ana (2026) Fostering connection and advocacy: Creating a neurodivergent network at EGU. In: European Geoscience Union General Assembly 2026, 3-8 May 2026, Vienna, Austria.

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Abstract

Neurodiversity – the diverse nature of ways individuals experience the world, process information, function, and communicate – is a paradigm that has been gaining broader acceptance and traction. The neurodiversity movement supports the self-advocacy of historically stigmatised and pathologised communities, including (but not limited to) ADHDers, autistic, dyslexic, and dyspraxic individuals. Such individuals think and experience the world in ways that do not conform to societal norms and are often referred to as neurodivergent. Neurodivergence further includes other conditions, including bipolar, depression, anxiety disorder, epilepsy, or any other condition that makes individuals diverge from the “norm”, temporarily or permanently. Current estimates indicate that about 15-20% of the global population could be neurodivergent. This amounts to about 3,000-4,000 individuals with specific needs among the 20,000 yearly attendees of the EGU General Assembly.

During the 2025 General Assembly, two networking events on neurodiversity were organised by the authors of this abstract. An online survey was further circulated to capture the experiences of neurodivergent members of the EGU. The discussions in both events as well as the survey results revealed a clear need for neurodivergent participants to be able to connect with each other. This led to the creation of an EGU-wide neurodivergent network, which currently has an online space on Mattermost.

We will present the current activities of the network, which include in particular the organisation of various events and sessions within EGU related to neurodiversity, its goals, and how you can get involved. We will also present the results of the survey conducted during and around last year’s EGU GA, addressing specific challenges that neurodivergent participants can encounter in international conferences. We aim to stimulate a broad discussion on how to raise awareness on neurodivergence across EGU members and better support and include neurodivergent geoscientists in EGU activities.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Speech)
Status:	Published
DOI:	doi10.5194/egusphere-egu26-13186
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General)
School/Department:	School of Humanities
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/14259

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