In sharing her own story and breaking down common misconceptions regarding neurodivergent minds, Nerenberg gives listeners a roadmap for constructing a world that works for everyone, built on a supportive framework that shuns shame and stereotype. In Divergent Mind, author and activist Jenara Nerenberg unpacks this emerging reevaluation of neurological variability, focusing in particular on how women are routinely underdiagnosed with conditions such as high sensitivity, ADHD, misophonia, dyslexia, and autism. In fact, far from being damaged or broken, those with atypical sensory processing abilities are in many ways endowed with unique, paradigm-shifting perspectives and proficiencies. Growing up in a household that championed the neurodivergent, I learned from an early age to value diversity and difference in neurological function. "I consider myself quite privileged to know-and love-several people living on the autism spectrum. When we allow our wide variety of brain makeups to flourish, we create a better tomorrow for us all.Ī welcome alternative to pathologizing difference Nerenberg also offers us a path forward, describing practical changes in how we communicate, how we design our surroundings, and how we can better support divergent minds. 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). Meanwhile, we all miss out on the gifts their neurodivergent minds have to offer.ĭivergent Mind is a long-overdue, much-needed answer for women who have a deep sense that they are "different". As a result, potentially millions live with undiagnosed or misdiagnosed neurodivergences, and the misidentification leads to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and shame. ![]() ![]() Between a flawed system that focuses on diagnosing younger, male populations, and the fact that girls are conditioned from a young age to blend in and conform to gender expectations, women often don't learn about their neurological differences until they are adults, if at all. When it comes to women, sensory processing differences are often overlooked, masked, or mistaken for something else entirely. Being a journalist, she dove into the research and uncovered neurodiversity - a framework that moves away from pathologizing "abnormal" versus "normal" brains and instead recognizes the vast diversity of our mental makeups. ![]() A paradigm-shifting study of neurodivergent women - those with ADHD, autism, synesthesia, high sensitivity, and sensory processing disorder - exploring why these traits are overlooked in women and how society benefits from allowing their unique strengths to flourish.Īs a successful Harvard and Berkeley-educated writer, entrepreneur, and devoted mother, Jenara Nerenberg was shocked to discover that her "symptoms" - only ever labeled as anxiety - were considered autistic and ADHD.
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