Cav's Reviews > Neurodiversity and the Myth of Normal

Despite its short length, Neurodiversity and the Myth of Normal was a really shoddy presentation. While there was some interesting content presented here; mainly early on, there were some fairly sizeable structural problems with the overall presentation. More below.

Co-author Kyler Shumway a professional writer, and psychotherapy practice developer.
Co-author Daniel Wendler, MA is a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology and the founder of MarketingforTherapists.org.

Kyler Shumway & Daniel Wendler:



The book is an audio presentation, so I won't be including the quotes I typically add to my reviews.
It is also a shorter presentation; clocking in at a little less than 3 hours.

As the books title implies, the authors unfold a theory of neurodiversity. Although not summarized exactly this way here (and it should have been); the theory is that modern science does not know enough about the workings of the human brain to be able to tell what "normal" neural functioning looks like, compared with pathological functioning.

The authors talk about ADHD and autism a lot in the first part of the book, using these case studies to explain how people are differently wired.

Ok, so all good so far. Right up until they started editorializing... The authors are self-loathing leftist "progressives" who subscribe to Neo-Marxist "intersectionality." They have been thoroughly parasitized by the Woke Mind Virus. And, as is oh-so fashionable in 2024, they spare no opportunity to push their political narrative here; with frustrating results.

Many people on the autistic spectrum don't behave according to social norms. Autism is primarily a disorder associated with reduced empathy, so autistic people often miss the social cues that non-autistic people take for granted in their interactions with others.

The authors talk about the "harm" caused by people trying to "mask" these abnormal behaviours; making a victimology claim. This may be true, but people are social animals. Every aspect of human behavior is strongly influenced by culture. All of our expectations, behaviours, decisions, and habits are strongly influenced by the group. Every society has norms and taboos. They are a foundational part of any social group. The authors don't seem to like this, and use magical thinking to wish that this wasn't so.

Encouraging autistic people to behave normally may cause them some distress, but encouraging them to not conform also has downsides. Namely; rejection and ostracism from the group; which is arguably more damaging than having to internalize your abnormal behaviour. It's not a black and white issue...

Ridiculously enough, these authors think that it is the entire world and the majority of people that need to change to accommodate everyone's specific preferences, and not the other way around. How would this even work in practice?? By definition, you can't please every minority group there is, because for every special need or preference that you accommodate, you'll end up displeasing someone else's needs or accommodations. This is not a feasible strategy. These two accredited academics don't seem to realize this obvious reality.

Also, unfortunately, there was a plethora of leftist newspeak in here. Terms like "starting a conversation" "creating space," "marginalized," and other assorted ideological language was liberally peppered in the writing. I really don't like political language in a book, as it typically indicates that the author has been ideologically captured. And these guys clearly have been.

They've got a ridiculous bit of writing saying "when we give someone the "psychosis" label, it makes it ok for the police to haul them off to jail." Umm, no. People are not just carted off to jail for no reason. They are taken to jail for criminal behaviour. If a psychotic person is arrested, it is because they are a threat to themselves or others. What should we do when someone who is detached from reality (the definition of a psychotic episode) is posing a danger to society? Just leave them alone and hope for the best?? This is airy-fairy utopian nonsense. Interestingly, most normal people wouldn't advocate for such nonsense. It takes a certain amount of education to become so stupid. “Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them...”

The authors also have some garbage in here about gender ideology. They trot out the fact that there are intersex people as "evidence" for the fact that sex and gender are completely uncorrelated. Human beings are sexually dimorphic, sexually reproducing creatures, with 2 default phenotypes. The binary idea of sex is not flawed. The overwhelming majority of people are either XX or XY. Even when intersex and sex chromosome aneuploidies are taken into account, M-F still applies to ~99.9% of the population.

They also mention that brain scans show that the brains of trans people more closely resemble the brains of the sex they identify as, and cis people's brains more typically resemble the brains of their biological sex. The first problem with the entire "brain scan" line is thinking that there is a "male brain" and a "female brain." There are effeminate men, and there are masculine women. The amount of overlap between the brains of the sexes is so vast that trying to dichotomize the two is not workable. Disposition is not "gender." Dr. Kenneth Zucker, one of the world's leading gender researchers has a great bit of writing about this in Abigail Shrier's book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters.

They trot out some stats that say that >20% of Gen Z, >10% of millennials, 4.2% of Gen X and only 2.6% of Baby Boomers identify as LGBT+. The authors say that this discrepancy is reflective of stigma. It doesn't seem to occur to them that this parabolic rise in these numbers over the last few decades may also have social influence as a causal factor. We get the result we want first, and then go backwards to establish causation. Great "science," guys.

They've also got a bit of writing in here about obtaining "enthusiastic consent" for sex. What the fuck does this have to do with neurodiversity?? Answer: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. But, much like an evangelical Christian who never shuts up about Jesus, these people just can't help themselves. Ideology is a hell of a drug, kids...

Sadly, ideologues ramming their shit political takes down your throat has spilled out of academia and Hollywood, and is becoming more and more commonplace in books...

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I had high hopes for Neurodiversity and the Myth of Normal, but it ultimately fell way short.
I would not recommend it. There's not much real value here. Instead of using the <3 hours of this book's runtime to talk about the science of neurodiversity, the authors spend most of this short time evangelizing for a worldview. How tiresome...
1 star, and off to the return bin. Remind me to give a hard pass on anything else these guys produce.