This program is read by the author. Confessional and often hilarious, in Normal Sucks a neuro-diverse writer, advocate, and father meditates on his life, offering the radical message that we should stop trying to fix people and start empowering them to succeed. Jonathan Mooney blends anecdote, expertise, and memoir to present a new mode of thinking about how we live and learn—individually, uniquely, and with advantages and upshots to every type of brain and body. As a neuro-diverse kid diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD who didn't learn to read until he was twelve, the realization that that he wasn’t the problem—the system and the concept of normal were—saved Mooney’s life and fundamentally changed his outlook. Here he explores the toll that being not normal takes on kids and adults when they’re trapped in environments that label them, shame them, and tell them, even in subtle ways, that they are the problem. But, he argues, if we can reorient the ways in which we think about diversity, abilities, and disabilities, we can start a revolution. A highly sought after public speaker, Mooney has been inspiring audiences with his story and his message for nearly two decades. Now he’s ready to share what he’s learned from parents, educators, researchers, and kids in a book that is as much a survival guide as it is a call to action. Whip-smart, insightful, and utterly inspiring—and movingly framed as a letter to his own young sons, as they work to find their ways in the world—this audiobook will upend what we call normal and empower us all.
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Jonathan Mooney, the author of several books, is a dyslexic student who did not learn to read until he was twelve years old. After attending Loyola Marymount University for one year, he transferred to Brown University, where he graduated with an honors degree in English. He is the recipient of the distinguished Truman Fellowship for graduate study in the field of learning disabilities and special education. His work has been featured inthe New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, HBO, NPR, ABC News, New York Magazine, Washington Post, and the Boston Globe. He continues to speak across the nation about neurological and physical diversity, inspiring those who live with differences and advocating for change.