In The Know | Neurodiversity on Facebook

Social media is almost inescapable in today’s world, for better or worse. Today around seven-in-ten Americans use social media to engage the world, according to the Pew Research Center. The numbers are growing as quickly as the new social media platforms to accommodate the connections. And while too much of it amounts to doom scrolling society’s slog towards perdition, British journalist Jon Ronson rightly noted, “The great thing about social media was how it gave a voice to voiceless people.” And too often voiceless has described the neurodivergent and the people who love them. Take parents of children with autism, ADHD, and other learning differences desperately searching for ways to support them. Or neurodivergent individuals longing to turn the page on wrongheaded narratives that cast them as weird. Enter social media — part support group and living, breathing Info Please almanac for moms and dads in search of life hacks for parenting their kids with learning disabilities, and also a far-reaching megaphone for young and proudly neurodivergent content creators to shout out their truth. On this episode, we visit with a mother who moderates a Facebook groups focused on neurodiversity issues, helping to farm and sow advice that can be a life changer for group members — and herself.