Calling all Autistic comrades!

And calling all neurodivergent comrades!

We will be going through Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism by Robert Chapman. You can purchase the book through this hyperlink here or here or even here (but preferably through the first two links as I want to support the publisher).

The first two chapters are:

Chapter 1. Rise of the machines

and

Chapter 2. The invention of normality

There’s also the Preface and Introduction.

Every week, we’ll go through two chapters, at least, every week, but if you want, we can go through it bi-weekly (as in, every two weeks, to be precise). I don’t think it deserves to be monthly as it’s a rather short book. It’s about 165 pages of actual text and the rest of the book is supplementary pages, such as References and Works Cited. Otherwise, give your general thoughts down below.

My thoughts:

I’m near the end of the book. I like that Robert Chapman takes issue with Judy Singer and some of her comments later on. But also, regarding the first two chapters, I felt that they were really compelling and helped set up the general interest in the matter at hand. I felt that it does well in terms of getting the reader to understand why normativity is a negative feature of capitalism, even if it may have been preferable to the pseudo-science of the feudal era. The feudal era’s views on mind and body are interesting, though, and more in line with reality, where there is no obsession with a “normative slate” (my words) and instead, everyone is literally different, more or less, from each other. Not sure how to explain it in my own words, but I think as children, we all kinda thought this before we had concepts of what was “right and normal” and what was “wrong and harmful.” The relation to Das Kapital and Marx in the second chapter are also pretty interesting as well.

Here are some questions to help guide you when giving your thoughts down below:

What, and how much, did you learn from the first two chapters (Preface and Introduction included)?

and

What did you find most interesting from them and what would you like to be elaborated on more?

Join me in this impromptu book club that I’ve set up and I’ll tag you all.

Anyway, shoot!