Diversity over Diagnosis
All members of my immediate family are neurodiverse, and I certainly never felt the same as those around me.
Yet, much of the medical literature on neurodiversity either talks about those within one standard deviation of the norm, or deviants themselves. Such language is inherently belittling, and uninteresting. Rather than discussing traits, it focuses on disorders. I have been watched my mother diagnosed with a parade of DSM classifications, giving me firsthand experience of academia’s ineptitude in addressing neurodiversity. A far more insightful way to learn about this topic is through personal stories.
Many aspects of Girl Unmasked resonated with me: the familiar discomfort of clothing tags, the necessity of noise-canceling headphones before stepping outside. Even the traits that did not personally apply to me were just as compelling. The book sheds light on anxieties surrounding safety and routines, the way OCD can become overpowering, and the extreme coping mechanisms the author developed.
We are putting autistic people through hell – and when they break, if they survive, we put them in hell to try to manage their brokenness.
I wish we could understand personalities through diverse narratives rather than reducing them to clinical diagnoses. Girl Unmasked exemplifies how that approach could look in practice.
** 15th book of 2025 **