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A review by the_vegan_bookworm
Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn't Designed for You by Jenara Nerenberg
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Many sections of this book were really interesting, well-researched and featured interesting speakers and thinkers on a variety of topics. It makes for a great primer on neurodiversity as a whole, and especially considers neurodiverse women.
I felt confused about the differences between autism versus HSP, which are two of the early chapters of the book. One person detailed having an autistic child but being HSP herself, even though autism is genetically linked and the symptoms she described also matched autism. Without differentiating the two conditions, those sections read as anti-autistic ableism (using other labels to distance oneself from autism) and therefore did not sit well with me. This could have been resolved by better situating the reader on differences between highly similar conditions.
The book also didn't consider the intersections of class and race on neurodiversity, focusing heavily on wealthy and white speakers in many cases. At one point, they even referenced Atypical to highlight police brutality for neurodivergent folks without ever mentioning Black experiences. I would like to see the author think more critically about intersectionality in the future.
I felt confused about the differences between autism versus HSP, which are two of the early chapters of the book. One person detailed having an autistic child but being HSP herself, even though autism is genetically linked and the symptoms she described also matched autism. Without differentiating the two conditions, those sections read as anti-autistic ableism (using other labels to distance oneself from autism) and therefore did not sit well with me. This could have been resolved by better situating the reader on differences between highly similar conditions.
The book also didn't consider the intersections of class and race on neurodiversity, focusing heavily on wealthy and white speakers in many cases. At one point, they even referenced Atypical to highlight police brutality for neurodivergent folks without ever mentioning Black experiences. I would like to see the author think more critically about intersectionality in the future.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism and Mental illness