Ableism is embedded in our daily lives. Social life, education, work, and, especially, mental health have been organized around rigid ideas of the 鈥渋deal鈥� and the 鈥渘ormal鈥� citizen鈥攊deas that always exclude neurodiversity. In this pathbreaking book, Chantelle Jessica Lewis and Jason Arday argue that the neurodiversity movement offers ways to mobilize against not only ableism but also other 鈥渋sms鈥� including racism and capitalism. By focusing on the prevalence of neurotypical dominance and power鈥攐r 鈥渘eurotypical hegemony鈥濃�擫ewis and Arday show the ways that neurotypical dominance has often been used to justify and normalize some of our more harmful cultures around productivity and value.
Throughout the book, Lewis and Arday use theories of Blackness, feminism, class, and neurodivergence to offer a vision of solidarities across differences. They show that race, class, ethnicity, gender, and nation are just some of the social structures for which the politics of neurodiversity can produce an emancipatory analysis. This is a book about applying social theory in practice, taking seriously how academic research and theory can be used outside of academic spaces. With We See Things They鈥檒l Never See, Lewis and Arday issue a call to action鈥攁nd a call for understanding, acceptance, and humility.
Chantelle Jessica Lewis is the Andrew Pitt Junior Research Fellow in Black British studies at Pembroke College, University of Oxford. She is the codirector of Surviving Society Productions, associate at Leading Routes and Genius Within, and a trustee of The Sociological Review. Jason Arday is professor of sociology of education at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of Cool Britannia and Multi-Ethnic Britain and a trustee of the British Sociological Association (BSA). He also sits on the ITV Cultural Advisory Council and is patron of the Adult Literacy Trust (ALT).
“Urgent and truly beautiful. With exquisite delicacy and intelligence, Lewis and Arday explain and exhort the necessity of recognizing and valuing human differences and neurodiversity without ever preaching or condescending. We See Things They’ll Never See is a zeitgeist-defining call to action. We will all benefit from learning its lessons.”—James O'Brien, LBC
“Chantelle Jessica Lewis and Jason Arday have produced a highly original book that discusses neurodiversity using insights from understanding how to combat discrimination based on classism, ableism, sexism, or racism. Their friendship is evident in their writing, which shines a light on how to unify people, to create a better world.”—Simon Baron-Cohen, University of Cambridge
“We See Things They’ll Never See is a fascinating, beautifully argued, hard-hitting book whose innovative analysis of neurodiversity promises to push the theoretical boundaries of intersectional theory and politics. Offering a clear-eyed analysis of how differently the world looks to people who are neurodiverse within a system of neurotypical hegemony, Lewis and Arday invite readers to see the world as they do, one of heartbreaking barriers but also one that offers possibilities for love, hope, and social change.”—Patricia Hill Collins, University of Maryland
"The book is a beautiful contribution to scholarship. It builds upon past research—especially the voices of scholars of color—in a very generous way, and offers a unique contribution in its tone, prioritizing acceptance, love, and hope, and in its engagement of voice.”—Marybeth Gasman, Rutgers University
“This book develops a highly original political analysis of love and neurodiversity through a new synthesis of neurodiversity, disability studies, Black feminist, and Marxist scholarship. It provides a very significant contribution to the emerging field of neurodiversity studies.”—Robert Chapman, author of Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism
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