Latest news with #JoeHarkness
Daily Mail
09-08-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Neurodivergent, By Nature by Joe Harkness: Why people with autism are at one with nature
Neurodivergent, By Nature by Joe Harkness (Bloomsbury £18.99, 256pp) When Joe Harkness was diagnosed with ADHD, the news came as a relief. Suddenly, the poor choices he'd made started to make sense. 'Dropping out of sixth form and then college in consecutive years. Getting beaten up several times. Addiction. Debt... The inability to regulate my emotions.' His wife was only too happy to list his many annoying qualities to the consultant making the diagnosis: how Harkness would never complete a task, never listened, and couldn't focus on anything other than what was in front of him. 'She was loving her time in the ADHD confessional box,' he says wryly. Even before this confirmation that his brain is 'a bit messy', Harkness had worked out that spending time in the natural world was essential to keeping on an even keel, representing a safe space for someone who often finds his surroundings noisy and confusing. His particular love is birdwatching. For him, it is more than just a hobby: it's 'an immersive, multisensory activity that simultaneously stimulates and soothes our brains'. Increasingly intrigued by what it means to be neurodivergent, a term that encompasses conditions such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia, Harkness investigates why green spaces are so vital to people who are neurodivergent, and what skills those people bring to conservation and the environment. As he interviewed people who work in this sector, one quality made them stand out from the rest: their ability to focus obsessively on one thing, even if it's something as unappealing as extracting DNA from the toe pads of long-dead parrots, or examining the genitalia of moths (which are as unique and varied as a fingerprint, apparently). This 'hyperfocus' is commonly found in people with autism and ADHD, and while some describe it as 'mentally and physically exhausting', others regard it as a superpower. Although it's hard to measure since no one has compiled any accurate figures on it, Harkness believes that there's an above-average representation of neurodivergent people in the conservation sector. One RSPB area manager estimates that up to 30 per cent of the charity's workforce are neurodivergent, and to Harkness this makes perfect sense. 'Neurodivergent people… want to conserve the entity that understands us, that makes us feel safe, and gives us the escape we crave.' Harkness writes movingly about how the rhythm of the seasons, and the predictability of the natural environment, act as a balm for those who are neurodivergent, offering a consistency that is lacking in so many other areas of life. He calls this 'the web of wild wellbeing'. In his own work as a teacher of young people with special educational needs, many of them neurodivergent, Harkness has noticed how their behaviour changes once they are out in the open. Children who have been excluded from school will take infinite care to rescue an injured butterfly, while the 'cool kids' work collaboratively with classmates they would usually ignore or belittle. Outdoors, 'the pressure and containment of the traditional learning environment disappears'.
The Guardian
25-07-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
‘Intrinsically connected': how human neurodiversity could help save nature
When Joe Harkness received a message from a friend about macerating moth abdomens to check their genitalia to identify the species, it sparked an idea for a new book about wildlife obsessions. But over time, this developed into a completely different book: a clarion call to embrace neurodiversity in the fight against the extinction crisis. Across Britain, 15% of people are thought to be neurodivergent. In the process of writing Neurodivergent, By Nature, Harkness discovered that an estimated 30% of conservation employees were neurodivergent. Why? 'People like myself, especially those who are undiagnosed, probably found nature was their balm from a mental health perspective,' says Harkness when we meet beneath an awesomely peaceful ancient oak close to his home in rural Norfolk. 'The other thing is, we're different from what we'd define as neurotypical people. Therefore we like more odd things. Special interests. Nature lends itself to people who are different.' He interrupts his own answers by repeatedly spotting micro-moths – his latest special interest – zipping across our path. 'Did you see that? Is it a yellow shell? No, it's another one of those mother of pearl moths. Sorry. They're everywhere.' Harkness's full-time job is teaching autistic and other neurodiverse children, but he did not suspect he had ADHD until a fellow teacher said she thought he had. It took a further six years to obtain a formal diagnosis and access to medication that he has found extremely helpful. Naturalists such as the broadcaster Chris Packham and the writer Dara McAnulty have flown the flag for neurodiversity in the environmental sector but Harkness interviews dozens of less celebrated conservationists who have undertaken pioneering work on everything from UN climate talks to saving the Seychelles black parrot and restoring pine marten populations. Harkness, whose debut book, Bird Therapy, was a surprise self-published hit, explains well why neurodivergent people can prosper in ecological jobs. But he also makes a strong case for the natural world needing a neurodiverse cohort of people to save it. Beside the ancient oak where we talk is a small, scruffy meadow, filled with a jumble of wild grasses, insects and the flit of birds. 'There is biodiversity right in front of you,' says Harkness, pointing at the meadow. 'You look at it one way, I look at it another way. Therefore, if we are trying to help it, we can bring different things to it. If you're looking at it from a completely different angle because of how your brain is wired, you bring a different approach again. 'You cannot be creative and make change and do good things unless you utilise all the different skills of the people you work with. If you don't have diversity of people, you don't have biodiversity. You can't have one without the other. They are intrinsically connected.' More specifically, Harkness reveals how neurodiverse conservationists find their 'superpowers' can make them uniquely effective at their job, with skills including lateral thinking, hyperfocus, memory skills and empathy, as well as having an aptitude for fieldwork. The autistic ecologist Naomi Davis told Harkness their favourite aspect of the job was finding and categorising species. Both Davis and the consultant ornithologist Colin Everett speak of sensory superpowers helping their surveying work: detecting fragments of birdsong that everyone else misses; even hearing bats echolocating – calls that are usually far too high-pitched for adults to hear them. Clearly, neurodiverse people can be vital champions for biodiversity, although Harkness is bluntly honest about his own ADHD. 'I don't feel like the symptoms I experience are helpful or conducive to wellbeing and peak performance at work,' he writes. And some people are still wary of disclosing neurodiversity. He interviews Emma Marsh, an executive director at the RSPB, who did not reveal her later-in-life autism diagnosis to work colleagues for a while, although when she finally did, she was heartened by receiving such a positive response. As Harkness explains, harnessing the skills of neurodiverse employees often requires changes in work practices. Fieldwork – in peaceful, natural settings – is one attraction for many neurodiverse conservationists, but office-based workers may require adaptations. One senior conservationist was given permission to conduct her meetings outdoors. Is the conservation sector meeting the needs of its neurodiverse employees? 'Approaches to neuro-inclusion across the conservation sector are fragmentary at best, with some areas of outstanding practice, and some terrible tales of discrimination and needs not being met,' says Harkness. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion Although 'a lot of what I found in the sector seemed really fantastic', he says, 'with a bit of digging, everybody [in conservation organisations] was open to the fact that they still have a lot of work to do. But neurodivergence is a relatively new concept. I wouldn't expect them to be all-singing, all dancing with their practices yet.' The conservation sector has repeatedly been criticised for being so white and Harkness says any assessment of its efforts to accommodate neurodiversity must look at 'how well is it engaging everybody who has a protected characteristic'. Harkness does not want neurodiversity to be a 'DEI trend' that comes and goes. For meaningful change, he says, there must be more routes into conservation through apprenticeships and not just degrees. Working as a senior teacher at an 'outstanding' complex needs school, Harkness is fiercely critical of mainstream British education, and the multi-chain academy system in particular, for failing to meet the needs of both neurodiversity and nature. Without more nature-literate schooling, he says, many neurodiverse young people won't be able to discover the balm of the natural world – or the well-fitting jobs available within it. 'If you need something different, you're not going to get it,' he writes of the academy school system. His own personal schooling experience was bleak. Lacking an ADHD diagnosis as a young person, Harkness was simply written off as a naughty child of a single parent from social housing. When he got his belated diagnosis, did he grieve for how long it took? 'What I really grieved for was my experience at secondary school,' he says. 'Medication has completely changed my life for the better. It doesn't for everyone but it's worked for me. What if I'd had that in year 11? Would I have got my A-levels and gone to university? Would I be a completely different person? Do I want to be? No. But it's grief for what I could've been.'
The Guardian
25-07-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
‘Intrinsically connected': how human neurodiversity could help save nature
When Joe Harkness received a message from a friend about macerating moth abdomens to check their genitalia to identify the species, it sparked an idea for a new book about wildlife obsessions. But over time, this developed into a completely different book: a clarion call to embrace neurodiversity in the fight against the extinction crisis. Across Britain, 15% of people are thought to be neurodivergent. In the process of writing Neurodivergent, By Nature, Harkness discovered that an estimated 30% of conservation employees were neurodivergent. Why? 'People like myself, especially those who are undiagnosed, probably found nature was their balm from a mental health perspective,' says Harkness when we meet beneath an awesomely peaceful ancient oak tree close to his home in rural Norfolk. 'The other thing is, we're different from what we'd define as neurotypical people. Therefore we like more odd things. Special interests. Nature lends itself to people who are different.' He interrupts his own answers by repeatedly spotting micro-moths – his latest special interest – zipping across our path. 'Did you see that? Is it a yellow shell? No, it's another one of those mother of pearl moths. Sorry. They're everywhere.' Harkness's full-time job is teaching autistic and other neurodiverse children, but he did not suspect he had ADHD until a fellow teacher said she thought he had. It took a further six years to obtain a formal diagnosis and access to medication that he has found extremely helpful. Naturalists such as the broadcaster Chris Packham and the writer Dara McAnulty have flown the flag for neurodiversity in the environmental sector but Harkness interviews dozens of less celebrated conservationists who have undertaken pioneering work on everything from UN climate talks to saving the Seychelles black parrot and restoring pine marten populations. Harkness, whose debut book, Bird Therapy, was a surprise self-published hit, explains well why neurodivergent people can prosper in ecological jobs. But he also makes a strong case for the natural world needing a neurodiverse cohort of people to save it. Beside the ancient oak where we talk is a small, scruffy meadow, filled with a jumble of wild grasses, insects and the flit of birds. 'There is biodiversity right in front of you,' says Harkness, pointing at the meadow. 'You look at it one way, I look at it another way. Therefore, if we are trying to help it, we can bring different things to it. If you're looking at it from a completely different angle because of how your brain is wired, you bring a different approach again. 'You cannot be creative and make change and do good things unless you utilise all the different skills of the people you work with. If you don't have diversity of people, you don't have biodiversity. You can't have one without the other. They are intrinsically connected.' More specifically, Harkness reveals how neurodiverse conservationists find their 'superpowers' can make them uniquely effective at their job, with skills including lateral thinking, hyperfocus, memory skills and empathy, as well as having an aptitude for fieldwork. The autistic ecologist Naomi Davis told Harkness their favourite aspect of the job was finding and categorising species. Both Davis and the consultant ornithologist Colin Everett speak of sensory superpowers helping their surveying work: detecting fragments of birdsong that everyone else misses; even hearing bats echolocating – calls that are usually far too high-pitched for adults to hear them. Clearly, neurodiverse people can be vital champions for biodiversity, although Harkness is bluntly honest about his own ADHD. 'I don't feel like the symptoms I experience are helpful or conducive to wellbeing and peak performance at work,' he writes. And some people are still wary of disclosing neurodiversity. He interviews Emma Marsh, an executive director at the RSPB, who did not reveal her later-in-life autism diagnosis to work colleagues for a while, although when she finally did, she was heartened by receiving such a positive response. As Harkness explains, harnessing the skills of neurodiverse employees often requires changes in work practices. Fieldwork – in peaceful, natural settings – is one attraction for many neurodiverse conservationists, but office-based workers may require adaptations. One senior conservationist was given permission to conduct her meetings outdoors. Is the conservation sector meeting the needs of its neurodiverse employees? 'Approaches to neuro-inclusion across the conservation sector are fragmentary at best, with some areas of outstanding practice, and some terrible tales of discrimination and needs not being met,' concludes Harkness. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion Although 'a lot of what I found in the sector seemed really fantastic', he says, 'with a bit of digging, everybody [in conservation organisations] was open to the fact that they still have a lot of work to do. But neurodivergence is a relatively new concept. I wouldn't expect them to be all-singing, all dancing with their practices yet.' The conservation sector has repeatedly been criticised for being so white and Harkness says any assessment of its efforts to accommodate neurodiversity must look at 'how well is it engaging everybody who has a protected characteristic'. Harkness does not want neurodiversity to be a 'DEI trend' that comes and goes. For meaningful change, he argues, there must be more routes into conservation through apprenticeships and not just degrees. Working as a senior teacher at an 'outstanding' complex needs school, Harkness is fiercely critical of mainstream British education, and the multi-chain academy system in particular, for failing to meet the needs of both neurodiversity and nature. Without more nature-literate schooling, he says, many neurodiverse young people won't be able to discover the balm of the natural world – or the well-fitting jobs available within it. 'If you need something different, you're not going to get it,' he writes of the academy school system. His own personal schooling experience was bleak. Lacking an ADHD diagnosis as a young person, Harkness was simply written off as a naughty child of a single parent from social housing. When he got his belated diagnosis, did he grieve for how long it took? 'What I really grieved for was my experience at secondary school,' he says. 'Medication has completely changed my life for the better. It doesn't for everyone but it's worked for me. What if I'd had that in year 11? Would I have got my A-levels and gone to university? Would I be a completely different person? Do I want to be? No. But it's grief for what I could've been.'
