'Groundbreaking ... [provides] a deep history of theinvention of the "normal" mind as one of the mostdamaging and oppressive tools of capitalism.To read it is to see the world more clearly' Steve Silberman, author of NeuroTribes 'Argues that a radical politics of neurodiversityis necessary, not only for neurodivergent folk,but for our collective liberation' Professor Hel Spandler, editor, Asylum magazine 'A vital book that kindles the flames of aneurodivergent revolution' Beatrice Adler-Bolton, co-author of Health Communism Neurodiversity is on the rise. Awareness and diagnoses have exploded in recent years, but we are still missing a wider understanding of how we got here and why. Beyond simplistic narratives of normativity and difference, this groundbreaking book exposes the very myth of the 'normal' brain as a product of intensified capitalism. Exploring the rich histories of the neurodiversity and disability movements, Robert Chapman shows how the rise of capitalism created an 'empire of normality' that transformed our understanding of the body into that of a productivity machine.