TITLE: Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn’t Designed for You (Kindle Edition)
AUTHOR: Nerenberg, Jenara
SUBJECT AREA: Neurodiversity-Women
PUBLISHER: Harper One (for Kindle and Print Editions)
PUBLICATION DATE: 2024
NUMBER OF PAGES: 246 (for Print Edition)
REVIEW WRITTEN BY: Anne Carpenter
The author of this brilliant and fascinating book begins by describing her confusion as to why she wasn’t functioning as well as she could have. She was a graduate of the Harvard School of Public Health who reported for CNN and Fast Company, yet she had difficulty with maintaining a schedule and having a coherent conversation with her husband or keeping track of household tasks. She read a slew of articles about women with Asperger Syndrome, ADHD and a condition called HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) syndrome. What she read resonated with her as she saw many of these traits in herself. This is an example of how women with ASD, ADHD and similar conditions are flying under the radar because they “mask” their traits and seem to pass as something more palatable to society at a great emotional and psychological cost.
Then, she discovered the wonderful term “Neurodiversity”, and the proverbial light bulb went off and she discovered Nick Walker, a well-known neurodiversity author and scholar and Steve Silberman who wrote the book Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity. That book was published several years ago but focused primarily on males so Nerenberg decided to find out about women’s experiences with neurodiversity, and she discovered that being highly sensitive was a common trait in neurodiverse women.
The author goes on to describe high sensitivity citing Elaine Aron’s book The Highly Sensitive Person. Nerenberg continues to describe other conditions such as synesthesia-the blending of the senses where Thursday is always orange and when music smells bad (what I have experienced). The author is purporting to upend what has been considered pathology by describing the variations in neurological functioning and this new thinking about our neurology is starting to take hold in schools, corporations, design agencies and many other aspects of society.
This book is unique in that it explores the female mind throughout history and how these neurological conditions manifest themselves in women that is still overlooked in research that is often still biased toward males. Part II, Outer Frames, describes the different conditions and how they manifest but in positive ways. CC Hart became a massage therapist and Sara Seager, a planetary scientist at MI but had difficulty with grocery shopping and was later diagnosed with ASD. This section explores the conditions in depth and the overlap between them. Part III explores ways that society can accommodate neurodiverse women at home and in the workplace such as using Snoezelen rooms with lighted bubble tubes and soft, comfortable chairs.
The emphasis of Divergent Mind is overwhelmingly positive-neurodivergent people can learn, grow and make stunning achievements, but the acceptance and the supports need to be in place. One can only hope. But this is a start.