Neuroqueer Heresies: Notes on the Neurodiversity Paradigm, Autistic Empowerment, and Postnormal Possibilities

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Took a star off because there was definitely a vibe of "I'm the expert and anyone who disagrees with me, is wrong. This book has MANY typos—mostly just missing words that made me reread several sentences multiple times. I was planning on just dipping in and out of this but ended up reading it from start to finish in a day.

Most people do not intentionally seek to harm those they love or work with, yet many of the current methods—which are accepted by society—are doing just that. They are no more neurotypical than they are a chemical engineer, because they have the potential to become one in 20 years. For someone like me who was diagnosed as autistic last year at age 57 this has provided an invaluable and affirming perspective on how I perceive and experience the world.As a neurodivergent professional working with people whose neurodivergence differs from my own, it is helpful to be educated and reminded about many of the inherently ableist attitudes and practices that serve as obstacles to our community, even though I have experienced it on some level. But unfortunately, by the end of the book, I felt that there were too many chapters with somewhat patronizing over-explanations, and chapters almost entirely filled with ranting. I was incredibly relieved that Neuroqueer Heresies was not the jumble of academic terms and run on sentences like the blurb suggested.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. This is the second queer, trans, autistic, doctorate-level author I’ve found in the last month and I am again so disoriented after reading. One point of seeing neuroqueer as verb is that any and all people can learn to 'unzip their normal suits' and embody neuroqueer body movements and thought processes by getting in touch with their sensory impulses. Neuroqueer Heresies' is urgently needed in a world that is still dominated by the corporate co-opting of the neurodiversity paradigm, and by conversion "therapies" that have only one goal: turning the fears of parents and the trauma of neurodivergent people into profits. The bestselling LGBTQ+ graphic novel about life, love, and everything that happens in between: this is the fifth volume of the Heartstopper series.

Loved this essays, for weaving together queer theory and somatic experience with neurodivergent experiences and theories of neurodiversity.

Not an easy read, but worth the trouble (and there is the occasional Princess Bride and Monty Python reference thrown in to keep you entertained! Nick Walker is a queer, transgender, flamingly autistic author of both speculative fiction and nonfiction, and co-creator of the urban fantasy webcomic Weird Luck. This book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the foundations, terminology, implications, and leading edges of the emerging neurodiversity paradigm.And yet I'm not a fan of this approach, which is likely to alienate laypeople who would absorb more of her message if conveyed with less pedantry and more compassion.