The book the behaviorism industry doesn’t want you to read comes out tomorrow!

Years ago, when I started speaking to the harms that I personally experienced due to the extreme pressure that came from having my Neurodivergence molded through a behavioral framework (having teachers and authority figures view me through a black and white, un-nuanced, binary lens of “desirable” and “undesirable behaviors”), I had lots of pushback from those who had bought into the school of behavior modification as “the solution to Neurodivergent people”.

Many of those who objected were providers of these modalities, who were adamant they “were trying to help,”and had “good intentions” in helping people like me “assimilate” into neuronormativity.

Accepting what I had to say, meant accepting they might be causing great harm.

Some were parents of Neurodivergent children, who worried what would happen to their children if they didn’t somehow assimilate… because the world is cruel and dangerous to people who stand out.

Then there were people who think Neurodivergent adults are just kids who weren’t disciplined hard enough growing up - people who really believe that Neurodivergent traits can (and should) be molded (or beaten) out of a Neurodivergent person.

This, is the behavioral approach to Neurodivergence, I often call “Neurodivergent Conversion Therapy” (though I don’t believe these methods are at all therapeutic).

When Neurodivergent people are forced to assimilate into systems and structures that treat us like problems to be solved, instead of people with needs to support, it can break us.

Unfortunately, I know, on a very intimate and personal level, what can happen to a Neurodivergent mind when it is placed under a framework that uses manipulation and coercive tactics to shape us into enacting behaviors that feel unnatural and wrong… how it can leave a person vulnerable to abuse and coercive control later in life, and how hard recovery from this type of trauma can be.

… so I wrote a book about it, an educational memoir, based in my own lived experience, from my personal trauma healing journey and un-f*cking my mind (a path that I’m currently still on).

THIS (Neurodivergent Rebel’s The Weight of Normal) is the book the behaviorists don’t want you to read… and it’s coming out TOMORROW!

Link if you want to pre-order a copy 💕: https://books2read.com/Weight-of-Normal

Lyric Rivera, cradling Neurodivergent Rebel’s The Weight of Normal while taking a selfie.