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

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

Publication date: 13 Jan 2025 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
4
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 4 (25.0%)

Abstract

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.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Bibliography inclusion overview

These indicators describe the cited bibliography imported for this publication. Cited-reference metrics use the cited-reference total as denominator. Cited-author metrics state whether they use all cited-author occurrences or only occurrences linked to authors already integrated in the AutiHub database. They use cached links between cited authors and authors integrated in the AutiHub database. Last computed: 16 Aug 2026 11:31.

Cited references
74
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
11 / 74 (14.9%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
16 / 196 (8.2%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 16 / 51 (31.4%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 12 / 178 (6.7%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
51 / 196 (26.0%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 40 / 178 (22.5%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
35 / 51 (68.6%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 35 / 196 (17.9%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 28 / 40 (70.0%).
1 cited bibliography entry could not be fully enriched from DOI metadata.
Crossref: not found (1)
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