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 
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:
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I have read through this book a couple of times and I think it's really valuable. It's a bit flawed imo and I hope that in a few years time we'll see a revised edition come out to bring it up to speed with a couple of things but 90% good is still really good, even moreso when we're talking about stuff that there's almost nothing having been written about.
Don't ask me about my criticisms of the book because I don't want to prime people to dislike this book and I don't want to shit on the experience for others or to drag the book club experience down. Maybe when the book club comes to a conclusion it might be time to reflect on where the book could be improved.
I'm also interested in this book club because I volunteered to share my experience - I participated in training developed and delivered by Heather Morgan that formed the basis of the unmasking exercises and it cost a fair chunk of change and the rest of the group I was with were all... sorta petit-bourgeois life coach types and I just know that to get access to this stuff otherwise, people would be looking at having to start as a client with a life coach and that shit costs like $100+ per session.
That doesn't really sit well with me and I know that it puts this expertise out of reach for a lot of people here. I've railed against how fucked it is that neurodivergent people are generally higher represented in unemployment and underemployment, they are likely to be underpaid for their work, and they tend to have higher costs for things like therapy, medication, and accessibility (think like needing a house cleaner or having to order food delivered because executive dysfunction has you in its claws and you need to eat but the idea of trying to cook something might as well be climbing mount Everest or just having to catch a taxi because the ADHD tax made you run late for work and you're better off paying the taxi fare than you are getting fired...)
The inequity of putting this stuff behind an inaccessible paywall isn't something I find tolerable. Don't get me wrong, people like Devon Price and Heather Morgan deserve to be paid for their work but the inherent injustice of the care system and the economic system underpinning it puts the expertise out of reach of most people who aren't at least comfortably "middle class" and it makes me feel indignation to know that the people who would likely benefit the most from this stuff are the ones who are also the most likely to be excluded from it.
I can't change the way that it is but I can do my part to democratise this expertise.
Yep. I'm autistic with ADHD, late-diagnosed, and enough of the "other" neurodivergence that tends to be a bit of an afterthought in comparison to autism and ADHD too.
As for others? Lol. Where to start... there are quite a few neurodivergent people I know, despite having a limited social circle at the moment. I've been the catalyst for more than a couple of people to go and get themselves diagnosed but I promise that I was very gentle in this process with people - I know that late-diagnosis can be one hell of a bumpy ride and I wouldn't go throwing someone else into the deep end with that, regardless of how obvious their neurodivergence might be to me.
Honestly I haven't started re-reading the book just yet (😬) because I struggle so damn much with reading especially at the moment.
I'm participating in this because I want to contribute to the momentum of the reading group and to show my support.