Next week sees the 5th year of the Autism Acceptance Festival, an event that has been shortlisted for a 2026 Education Award for best collaboration, as it is a partnership between 6 Higher Education Institutions, all of whom have earned or are working towards AsIAm Autism Friendly HEI designation: National College of Ireland (NCI), Dublin City University (DCU), National College of Art and Design (NCAD), CCT Dublin, Atlantic Technological University Sligo (ATU Sligo), and Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT).
The Autism Acceptance Festival is a week of online seminars at lunchtimes Monday to Thursday, March 23rd to 26th, complemented by on campus events at each participating college. Further information on all events is available on the Festival Hub on the NCI website.
The cornerstone of this year's festival is the Tyrone Productions/TG4 documentary Néara Éagsúlacht: Dearcadh Difriúil (Subtitled in English when spoken in Irish and vice versa). To remind festival attendees to watch before the event, we ask them to place a #WatchParty in their diaries for 7pm on Sunday 22nd March, however the link to the two-part documentary is live now on the #WatchParty registration page, and can be viewed at any time,
Online Events run 1-2pm each day – Here is a Quick Guide.
Monday 23 March: Different perspectives – panel discussion
Anne Hannan (CCT) will host a panel discussion with Sarah Beth Henry from Tyrone Productions, producer of Néara Éagsúlacht: Dearcadh Difriúill; Cúnla Ní Bhraonáin-Morris, who took part in the documentary, and Mick O’Dowd, whose son Traolach was also featured.
Tuesday 24 March: Disability Supports and Reasonable Accommodations
Robert Ward (NCI) will host a panel discussion with Áine Byrne, Disability Officer ATU Sligo; Karen Mooney, Head of Student Support and Welfare NCI; and Anne Hannan, Disability and Careers Officer CCT. This panel should provide the audience with a good insight into what HEIs in Ireland can offer and the impacts of those supports on student success.
Wednesday 25 March: Assistive Technology in third level education, and what the future may bring
Fiona Earley (DCU) will host have a fireside chat with Trevor Boland, Assistive Technology Officer at DCU, informed by a student panel, including Emily McPhillips Sheridan from DkIT, Sarah Doolan from NCI and Matthew Altomare from CCT, who will talk about their own use of Assistive Tech – Trevor will also look at developments in the area and what the future might bring!
Thursday 26 March: Communication options for non-speaking autistic people
Atlanta McGloin, Inclusion Support Tutor at ATU Sligo will MC this panel that looks at two options for non-speaking students: Lámh and Spell2Communicate. Katriona Boland, Lámh user and Home Visitor from NCI’s Early Learning Initiative; a parent who uses Lámh with their child; Adrienne Murphy, a Spell2Communicate parent-practitioner; her young adult son Caoimh Connolly Murphy, a non-speaking speller, and Anna Lechleiter, owner and lead practitioner of PALZ, a Speak 2 Communicate hub in Co. Kildare, will bring share their experience and expertise with the audience.
Don’t forget to check our social media channels at 11am each day during the festival to view/read/watch a creative work by students from across the 6 HEIs involved in this event: NCI, DCU, DkIT, NCAD, ATU Sligo and CCT College Dublin #DivergentMinds.
Links to all Autism Acceptance Festival activities via www.ncirl.ie/events
