Un-Normal Book (and Other things) Non-Club
The Non Club for people who don't like clubs
For the last few years I’ve read, listened to and watched lots of different information about neurodivergence. And I’ve also read, listened to and watched lots of things about other topics like trauma, attachment, feminism, race, gender, class, and so on. And some things that talk about a few of those different things all at once.
None of it has been particularly systematic and I’m left feeling like I have little tidbits of information but not much that feels complete. Sorry, not complete as knowledge is never complete and changes all the time. I think I mean grounded.
Something I’ve always loved about learning was that sense of beginning with a little glimmer of information and then following that until it expanded into something more solid. But I’ve been chasing glimmers for ages, and some of them have flourished but often I have jumped straight on to the next glimmer. So I find myself standing in a lovely field of shimmering sparks but if I try to catch one, it disappears.
I have this yearning to find a glimmer to explore and embellish- by going back to a starting point. Going back to some of the books I read years ago with the new knowledge I have now, and maybe also some of the papers and podcasts and articles I’ve read/listened to as well.
I wondered if you’d like to join me? So we can do it together?
I know (and accept!) my limitations, especially at the moment, so there won’t be a meeting on Zoom or otherwise. There won’t be reminders, or motivating emails. I’ll just let you know what I’m reading or listening to, and we can read it together if you want to. We can discuss it here, and you’re welcome to let me know what you think and we could chat about it on the Substack chat thingy. It will be a loose grouping of gently held ideas and questions among a motley crew of gently living dreamers and inquisitors.
I’m going to start with Unmasking Autism by Devon Price.
I’ll aim to summarise my reading here, and I’m going to give myself a month. So see you in May to discuss if you fancy joining me.
I fully empathise with that field of glimmers!!
Reading what you wrote on Instagram and here has sparked a thought for me. I’m on a coaching programme, for cpd, and one element of it is that we need to meet with a small group each week and discuss the week’s learnings. I can happily do self-instructed learning, watch/listen to videos. But the idea of having to meet at a certain time each week, with this small group, and share what we’ve learned from these videos… That feels really hard. And it feels hard because I have always struggled to articulate information I’ve heard, even if I have absorbed parts of it, in a group dynamic. I can write my response, sometimes, but I find group discussion hard. I’m grateful to you for highlighting this as something that others struggle with too. X