Today I’m taking part in the blog tour for Different Not Less. My review is written with thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

Growing up, Chloé Hayden felt like she’d crash-landed on an alien planet where nothing made sense. Eye contact? Small talk? And why are you people so touch-oriented? She moved between 10 schools in 8 years, struggling to become a person she believed society would accept, and was eventually diagnosed with autism and ADHD. When a life-changing group of allies showed her that different did not mean less, she learned to celebrate her true voice and find her happily ever after.

This is a moving, at times funny story of how it feels to be neurodivergent as well as a practical guide, with advice for living with meltdowns and shutdowns, tips for finding supportive communities and much more.

Whether you’re neurodivergent or supporting those who are, Different, Not Less will inspire you to create a more inclusive world where everyone feels like they belong.

Review:

Different, Not Less is an important book and I love the way that Chloé Hayden is unapologetically herself the whole way through to give us some valuable insight into what it is like to live as a neurodivergent person. I have noticed quite a few ADHD traits in myself so I was interested to read the accounts and advice given by the author. It is brilliant to read a book by an author who has lived experience of the issues faced by many autistic and neurodivergent people as it gave me a much clearer understanding of meltdowns, burnouts and sensory overload: terms I have heard mentioned but never fully understood what they mean for the person who is experiencing them. 

Chloé Hayden is a talented writer and she makes a complex subject interesting, relevant and easy to understand. I loved her use of metaphors, particularly the Disney ones, to explain the concepts in accessible language. 

Different, Not Less is not always an easy read. There are large parts of the book that tell Chloé’s personal story and she has been through some incredibly tough times. She talks about some subjects which may be triggering for some readers (we are always warned in advance) with amazing honesty. She also uses statistics to support her experiences, some of which are absolutely staggering and left me with a lot to think about. 

There is a list of resources and helplines at the back of the book, which will be very helpful to readers who wish to seek support with the themes in the book.

Different Not Less is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: