{size3.5} This is my first attempt at a full formal review.
Previously I have used the review box to praise works I have enjoyed. To question what I believe to errors of fact. To pass on some morsel of advice, given to me, which may be applicable. Or to the point where reliance on auto-correction may have to an inappropriate word selection.
Starting with spelling and grammar, which seems to be the obligatory starting point for reviews on WdC. Partway down the page my word processor has put a red squiggly line under the favour. It is missing one letter. It is hard for me to understand how this error could materially affect a readers understanding of this work. Or why it was worth drawing attention to at all.
On the subject of grammar, I will simply say that she understands it better than I. I would, however, take this opportunity to restate my view that; Correct grammar is just an attempt, by writers and readers, to use a common internal voice, to aid communication. I believe that this agreed internal voice, speaks with the accent know as received pronunciation. I am attempting, to the best of my abilities, to write this review in that voice.
The first point I would make about, Taking-a-2nd-Look-at-1st-Impressions is that I am not clear who the target is. This may be insufficient intelligence on my part. My 1st-Impressions is that it is a plea for mainstream society to be more tolerant of those with the types of Neurodiversity issues outlined in the text. However Neurodiversity is only mentioned once, and that in the essay's title.
The first part of the main text consists of nine, imagine yourself...paragraphs. As I am sure you can imagine, I saw my self in several of them. And I find it easy to imagine that a reader, not seeing him or her self in the first four or five, might conclude that this is of no interest to them, and find something else to read. The tenth paragraph is not much better, stating as it does “What would you think of yourself then? Dumb, careless....”. It is hard for me to imagine that asking a reader to think of themselves in those terms, is not going to alienate the reader that has persisted to this point.
At this point, you may be asking yourself. Why am I using up a day of writing time to produce this review? Why have I recommended this essay to others, as I am sure some of you are aware that I have? Why am I now asking you to read it? And I am asking you to read it!
The second half of the assay is more balanced in the representation of, just a few of the conditions that get lumped together under the catch-all term of Neurodiversity. It describes the signs that might indicate someone you are dealing with might have one of these “disorders”. And it makes a plea for understanding.
On the subject of Neurodiversity. I will at some point write a short essay on the neuro side, because how a human brain forms is interesting. On the diversity side, these are sometimes referred to as spectrum disorders, If I represent one end of the spectrum and most of the population are near the centre of the spectrum, then I would ask the members of WdC should also have sympathy for those on the opposite end of the spectrum. In the language of this essay only ever colour elephants in grey and just up to the line.
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