4 Comments

A moving and thoughtful piece. I too found Dr Chapman's work invaluable in re-conceptualising my neurodivergence, having previously felt alienated by the mainstream medical discourse around ADHD (and similarly alientated by the strengths-based 'neurodiversity-lite' narrative, which seemed to embody all the problematic individualism of a deficit-based model), but at the same time being unable to articulate my thoughts on why any of this was. It's a shame that much of the academic discourse around this topic is so inaccessible to a lay audience, so Chapman's efforts to communicate through less traditional platforms such as Psychology Today, in a way that engages a broader (and arguably larger) audience, are incredibly valuable. Thanks again for this great piece.

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Thank you Liz, I really appreciate this.

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This is a wonderful essay, really enjoyed reading it. I resonated a lot with the beginning section and would love to read more thoughts re the experience of ‘social death’. My own autistic identification/realisation came nearly 12 months ago and has also coincided with a strong sense of social death. Like you I have found Chapman’s work very invigorating, self-affirming and clarifying. In total agreement with the entirety of this piece. Look forward to reading more.

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Thank you Alex! Much appreciated. I would like to write more about social death as well. Hope to come back to it sometime in the near future.

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