WHERE TO GET THE BOOK: http://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=F6B31A8DAFD6BD39A5986833E66293E6

Audiobook format (expires 1/27): https://litter.catbox.moe/l3298q.m4b

So, this post will be “Introduction” in the sense that it will introduce us all to the book club and the book, and we will also be covering the introduction. The emotional content is pretty heavy; as such I figured it deserved its own discussion. It’s not especially long, but it covers Dr. Price’s journey into accepting his autism, and if you’re on the spectrum or even just neurodivergent in general you’ll probably strongly relate to a lot of what he lays down here. You, like me, may read this chapter and find yourself thinking he’s literally me, he just like me, he just like me fr ong no cap denji-just-like-me

Dr. Price is a transgender social psychologist born in Ohio, who graduated from Loyola University Chicago where he teaches as a professor in continuing studies. He wrote and published Laziness Does Not Exist before this one, and it’s also worth a read. In this book, Dr. Price also discusses his gender identity and how there’s a very high incidence of gender non-conformity amongst neurodiverse people. So in addition to folks with ADHD and autism, or those with other neurodiversities, it can also benefit LGBT+ folks who have to cover up their true selves for safety or social acceptance.

I plan on making another post about chapter one on Sunday or Monday of next week, depending on whether I can make time, and then one post about each chapter every week or every other week depending on what people’s feedback is.

In the intro, Dr. Price discusses his personal and emotional problems, social isolation, autistic self-discovery and research, entry into the autism self-advocacy community, and official diagnosis. He discusses how people who don’t fit the stereotype of autism are often neglected by medical professionals. How this neglect harms neurodiverse people of all stripes, and how unmasking can be a key to a full, authentic life. (Here’s hoping.)

He describes unmasking as a frightning and, indeed, potentially dangerous prospect, but provides tools throughout for approaching the process and beginning to know yourself, find where the mask ends and you begin, and believe that the person underneath is worth knowing in the first place.

First, discussion questions:

  • What interested you in this book club?
  • Are you neurodiverse? Do you know someone who is?
  • What stood out to you about the introduction? Any choice quotes? Anything you relate to?

He ends with an exercise called the Values-Based Integration Process, which we’ll go over below.

VALUES-BASED INTEGRATION PROCESS (by Heather R Morgan) STEP ONE

"Think of five moments in your life where you felt like you were FULLY ALIVE. Try to find moments throughout your life (childhood, adolescence, adulthood, school, work, vacation, hobbies)

Some of the moments might leave you with a sense of awe and wonder – ‘Wow, if all of life was like that, it would be amazing!’

Some of the moments might leave you feeling deeply recharged and ready to face the next challenge, or satisfied and fulfilled."

The books says to write it down in as much detail as possible, but I don’t actually expect anyone to post all that stuff here. Just a personal exercise to get the juices flowing. I’ll post some of my own personal thoughts in a comment below.

CARCOSA@hexbear.net , I was asked to tag you for a sticky on this. I think a few mods are in my tag list as well if you can’t get to it.

The following folks asked to be tagged:

  • Kras MazovEnglish
    5·
    8 months ago

    Sorry for the long time since my first comment here, only found the energy to tackle this right now.

    I have one question tho. I never really participated in any sort of book club before. Is this basically just a post a week discussing a chapter at a time and we just comment about it in each thread, or is this something different?

    Now for the discussion questions:

    What interested you in this book club?

    Even before I was diagnosed as autistic a little less than a year ago, I was already searching about it like crazy, and one of the biggest recommendations I found was this book, but I never got around to reading it.

    Are you neurodiverse? Do you know someone who is?

    Like I said above, yeah I’m autistic. I do know at least one other person that is a diagnosed neurodivergent, in his case he’s bipolar. There’s probably other people around me that might be neurodivergent too, but no other actual diagnosed people. I don’t think there’s anyone else in my family that is also autistic tho, I might be the only one, makes me feel kinda lonely actually.

    What stood out to you about the introduction? Any choice quotes? Anything you relate to?

    I haven’t read the introduction yet since I just downloaded the book and it’s very late here, I’ll edit this tomorrow and put my thoughts about it. (Also, I was confused for a bit and thought this question was about this post as an introduction, not the introduction of the book, lol. Had to take a look what others were writing to realize that cuz I didn’t get the question.)

    Well, aside from the “he’s literally me, he just like me, he just like me fr ong no cap” from 90% of the introduction lol, these quotes just describe me:

    I believed something was fundamentally wrong with me. I seemed to be broken in ways I couldn’t explain, but which everyone else could see at a glance.

    After being mocked about our passions, we become secretive about our special interests.

    To other people, my tears were immature tantrums and my opinions were condescending diatribes. As I grew up, I learned to be less intense, less embarrassing - less me.

    I couldn’t describe myself better. Years and years of non-stop bullying followed by my loud crying everyday of my life during childhood and being constantly mocked for the things I liked, all while feeling broken, feeling angry at the other kids, feeling like I didn’t belong and that I was an alien, couldn’t result in anything other than a mess of an adult that is still traumatized to this day. 🫠

    Good thing I’m in therapy at least.

    Also, add me to the tag list if you can, please.