Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn't Designed for You

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Sharing real stories from women with high sensitivity, ADHD, autism, misophonia, dyslexia, SPD and more, Nerenberg explores how these brain variances present differently in women and dispels widely-held misconceptions (for example, it’s not that autistic people lack sensitivity and empathy, they have an overwhelming excess of it). For example there are a lot of interviews about women who work in tech or academia who have found their niche within their company and it has brought out the best in them and their neurodivergencies. When it comes to women, sensory processing differences are often overlooked, masked, or mistaken for something else entirely.

Her inclusion of Samantha Craft's list of ways that autism can present in women was instrumental for me to recognize it in myself, and am now working to get psychological testing. Also a large focus is on highly successful entrepreneurial individuals, further alienating the average high functioning autist.The author uses the term 'Aspergers' multiple times, without saying anything about the history of that term.

I was also extremely confused about the focus on 'sensitivity' as if that was the only qualifier for being neurodivergent. As a result, potentially millions live with undiagnosed neuro-divergences, obscured by anxiety and depression. When we allow our wide variety of brain makeups to flourish, we create a better tomorrow for us all.The book de-pathologizes those of us who most profoundly and intensely think and feel the world around us.