A review by readingpicnic
Neuroqueer Heresies by Nick Walker

2.5

First of all, there are some really good definitions in this book of “neurodivergent,” “neurodiversity,” “neurodiverse,” “neurotypical,” and more that I will definitely make use of for papers and presentations. I realized I’ve been referring to myself as neurodiverse when I really meant neurodivergent, which I’m glad to know, but the author made me feel so ashamed and uneducated for doing so. That’s how I felt reading a lot of this book, which reads as incredibly academic in the most pompous way. Me and my friends call each other and ourselves neurodiverse, which I don’t think is that big of a mix-up, but the author implies that it makes us sound uneducated in disability studies and that others who are more educated will judge us, which I took issue with. I also took issue with the chapter on person-first vs identity-first labeling, as it is a disabled person’s personal choice for which they use!!! There is not a right answer!!! The author took the stance that identity-first language is the only right answer and that otherwise you are ableist and autistophobic, which I disagree with. Even though I use identity-first language for myself and see validity in the arguments against person-first language, some disabled people are just going to prefer person-first language for themselves and we should respect that. I found some value in this book, but I wouldn’t recommend it to other neurodivergent people.