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iffer 's review for:
Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn't Designed for You
by Jenara Nerenberg
The best thing about this book was perhaps naming what many people experience, that their sensory processing is tied to myriad other aspects of their lives, and they're not "crazy" or "lazy." The relation between the spectrum of sensory processing and physical and mental health diagnoses (or lack of diagnoses/care) in women were illuminating. I appreciated the personal stories of people who have learned not only to manage, but to thrive, and some even to start to address the systemic issues that make life more difficult for people with along the range of the sensory and temperamental spectrum.
For a book that emphasizes physiological causes of neurodivergence, the book doesn't describe in detail some of the biological mechanisms, which I think would've made the argument more convincing. The book also tries, but doesn't necessarily succeed, in including other marginalized identities and has a few moments that caused me to grimace when it compared the "movement" of neurodivergent people with those for gender and racial equality. One of the complex things in discussions about neurodivergence and queerness that often simultaneously comes up while not being fully addressed, is the fact that white people often take up so much space in queer and neurodivergent spaces and discussion, and that whiteness/white supremacy/white privilege and power have the benefit of pushing change "faster."
For a book that emphasizes physiological causes of neurodivergence, the book doesn't describe in detail some of the biological mechanisms, which I think would've made the argument more convincing. The book also tries, but doesn't necessarily succeed, in including other marginalized identities and has a few moments that caused me to grimace when it compared the "movement" of neurodivergent people with those for gender and racial equality. One of the complex things in discussions about neurodivergence and queerness that often simultaneously comes up while not being fully addressed, is the fact that white people often take up so much space in queer and neurodivergent spaces and discussion, and that whiteness/white supremacy/white privilege and power have the benefit of pushing change "faster."