UNMASKED: The Ultimate Guide to ADHD, Autism and Neurodivergence

I just finished reading UNMASKED: The Ultimate Guide to ADHD, Autism and Neurodivergence by Ellie Middleton and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about these topics. The author shares her personal journey of being diagnosed with ADHD and autism at the age of 24, and how it changed her life for the better. She also provides useful information, tips, and resources for neurodivergent people and their allies, covering areas such as mental health, pretty privilege, workplace challenges, and self-diagnosis. The book is written in a bite-sized style that is easy to follow and engaging, with plenty of humour and honesty. It is a book that celebrates neurodiversity and empowers readers to embrace their differences and strengths. UNMASKED is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand and appreciate the amazing diversity of human brains.

As a late diagnosed female I was desperate for information to help me understand this better and to help explain why I wasn't diagnosed earlier in life.The author writes so honestly and in a way that explains it easily, making it relatable. At times it felt like they were describing my life.The layout is fantastic and makes it easy to recognise aspects of ADHD and apply them to yourself. The background as to why a lot of women are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed helped me explain it to other people who didn't believe I had ADHD and was 'just me'.I am still me, but understanding that I struggled and still struggle and not everyone actually thinks like this means I can get help and make my life easier.Thank you to Ellie for writing this amazing book!

I don't usually write reviews, but this is such an important book I felt compelled. I listened to it as an audio book first and then bought a copy to share around my family so they could understand me better. I loved the way that Ellie explains all of the traits with real-life examples as it made it much easier to understand what those catch-all phrases written by the NHS really mean and which ones affect me. As a result of this book, I know more about myself and why so many things have happened to me in life are because of an un-diagnosed neruro-divergence. I have some ideas of what I can change and want to go much deeper into understanding the entire subject with other authors.Ellie writes this book from the point of view of minorities who have been excluded from the limited research and support offered to any neuro-divergent people. Quite rightly, she calls out the inequalities in the system that have marginalised people that needed support. As a man in his late 30s, I can associate with everything she explains when she discussed the traits and effects of autism and ADHD, regardless of my gender and social background. But I found it hard to read her book too because it felt so biased towards the marginalised groups that it undermined my own experiences which felt identical to those she described. Every chapter focused several times on the problems with the system that have ignored marginalised groups which meant that (as a literal reader, something I now understand thanks to Ellie) I see this as a reduction of the need for support for men who have had a lifetime of stress and lack of understanding. I would have liked a tiny acknowledgment somewhere in the book that most males have also had to struggle with un-diagnosed trauma so that we can feel this book is also for us, as it could genuinely change lives. I'd hate to think that men don't read it because they misread Ellies well intentioned and needed rhetoric to mean that their disability isn't equally valid, instead of learning that there is a systemic issue with identification of those disabilities in others.This small point aside, I can see this book being a bible for many people to help understand their autism and ADHD and i'm really glad I read/listened to it. I think it is great that Ellie has started the Unmasked community to support people like her, but I don't think i'll be joining it because the impression i've gotten from her book is that it might not be for someone like me, but there are many thousands who clearly feel welcome and I hope it continues to grow to support many more.

Loved this book. I'm nearly 70 years old and have only recently discovered that I too may be on the spectrum. In many ways the book was a missing key to a lock I couldn't unlock or perhaps the missing part of a jigsaw regarding my life? However, one thing the book didn't cover (no fault of the author) is autism and religion; where you have a guilt element to contend with too. I used to attend a church and being able to play guitar soon became part of the worship team. Then out of nowhere I was hauled before the Sandhedrin. My crime? I didn't smile enough in worship and I was then totally humiliated as a result. So what did I do? Told them where to get off? No, of course not, I just soldiered on and made,sure I smiled of course! It's always in the looking back that things seem to be so much clearer now and this book has helped immensely in that respect. Anyway, great book and well worth reading.

There are a couple of things that I think are really great about this book:1.) It provides a more rounded picture of the experience of autism and ADHD and how traits may present in individuals who may be high masking and not high needs. When my son was referred to LIFT, they recommended a couple of books which gave very stereotypical description of how traits present in ASD. Now, even though my son does fit into the stereotypical category for diagnosis, his traits do not present in this stereotypical way. It ends up being harmful because when he doesn't fit into that box, he gets misunderstood at school and by family members, his behaviour is attributed to him being naughty rather than having a disability and we end up having to fight to get the right support. We need more texts like this to help really educate people.2.) I found the way it was presented super useful as an Autistic, ADHDer myself. I tend to never quite see a book through to the end but the way it was broken down made it really accessible and a lot of thought must have gone into this. I was finished in 2 days which is really astonishing. I think another review mentioned the repetitiveness of some of the points but I actually found that helped cement key themes and ideas.So, I would definitely recommend and I will be recommending to just about everyone I come into contact with :)