Pembroke Junior Research Fellow to Co-Author Upcoming Book on Neurodiversity

Dr Chantelle Lewis, Andrew Pitt Junior Research Fellow in Black British Studies, is collaborating with fellow academic Professor Jason Arday for an upcoming book entitled We See Things They’ll Never See: Love, Hope and Neurodiversity. Scheduled for publication with Princeton University Press in 2025, the book is set to highlight their own and others’ experience of the challenges of neurotypical society for neurodiverse people, and the intersection of these issues with other marginalised identities.

Dr Lewis and Prof. Arday have promised a £20,000 advance from the upcoming book to charities supporting neurodivergent working-class families. “Our small contribution to the global disability rights movement is one we take incredibly seriously,” the authors shared in conversation with Pembroke. “We feel both honoured and privileged to be amongst the plethora of neurodivergent people using their platforms to work towards dismantling neurotypical hegemony.”

It’s a cause close to their hearts, as both authors identify as neurodivergent. Lewis has ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia but wasn’t diagnosed until she was twenty-four years old, while Arday was diagnosed with autism and global development delay aged three, which meant he didn’t learn to speak until he was eleven, or to read and write until eighteen. The remarkable stories of both authors’ experiences with navigating neurotypical culture in a rigorous academic environment are inspiring, but also bring a level of personal value to the research in the book – as the duo puts it, “Nothing about us, without us.”

We extend our warmest congratulations to Dr Lewis and Prof. Arday for their exciting new project and look forward to the book’s release.