Overview

"This is an invaluable, nuanced, and deeply needed guide to parenting diverse children as we move, together, toward a future in which all brains and bodies are supported—and belong.” —Jessica McCabe, How to ADHD

What if parenting were an act of social justice?
In this part story-telling, part self-inquiry book, authors and therapists Jaya Ramesh and Priya Saaral situate parenting children of color with neurodivergence within the context of various interlocking systems of oppression including settler colonialism, White supremacy, ableism, and capitalism.
These intersections engender isolation and loneliness. Using the voices of parents on the front lines and other experts, Parenting at the Intersections offer an invitation to parents to slow down and reflect on their own parenting journeys.
When parents can be given space to listen to their own voices, to connect with their children, and find community with others, they can find the most radical ways to disrupt systems of oppression.
 

Reviews

"A necessary, engaging, educational, and eye-opening perspective, not often found, about parenting children of color with neurodivergence. It’s also a powerful call to action to make parenting a form of disruption to oppressive systems and people."—Library Journal, Starred Review

“An insightful guide on parenting kids of color with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, OCD, or other neurological conditions…parents’ stories offer insight into handling challenges…It’s an empathetic look at how to meet kids where they’re at.”—Publishers Weekly

“While Parenting at the Intersections fills a gaping hole in the parenting and educator literature, this book is for anyone who seeks to facilitate a more accessible, inclusive, and humane society.”—Brown Girl Bookshelf

"Parenting at the Intersections is what can happen when the primary relationship of parents and children is witnessed with complexity, care, and dignity. . .  In these pages we are welcomed into a dynamism of cultural humility and lived authority.  Priya and Jaya built for us a space of inquiry where conscious community can show up for every kind of family, where every family can be supported to hold every child in the way each child needs to be held—and where collectives can choose resilient grace, reliable vitality, and committed connection—over simple perfectionism. As they examine the ways in which ableism, ageism, racism, economic injustice, and other layers of oppression press in to interfere with authentic relationship, they guide us to bold efficacy in countering these forces in the most immediate zones of our lives.  This is a work of courageous creativity and joy." —Dr. Leticia Nieto, author of Beyond Empowerment, Beyond Inclusion

"Parenting at the Intersections is a book about belonging. Belonging in the face of disconnection, migration trauma, colonial wounding, and neurodivergence. Belonging in ways that are not always comfortable for caregivers of all kinds to engage in and around. Jaya and Priya invite the reader of this book to re-remember the beauty of difference and the necessity of how to foster and curate our childrens’ differences. They speak of parenting our neurodivergent children of color as an act of liberation from systems of oppression—this in itself addresses the root and tends to the leaves of our youth. This book is a love letter and a form of disruption—this is my favorite kind of rebellion: one rooted in decolonial love.” —Jennifer Mullan, PsyD, author of Decolonizing Therapy

“Parenting at the Intersections is a wonderful contribution to literature and very needed. Focused on parents raising BIPOC neurodivergent children, the book and its authors invite parents into experience, connect, and grow. There is a pleasing warmth and relational quality that will surely resonate and empower parents and others who read this book. There is much to learn about intersectionality in neurodivergence and this book is a welcome contribution to the knowledge base. The authors cover a lot of ground, and the book includes several lived experience contributions. What a pleasing and informative book to review! I would recommend it to any parent and any professional working with BIPOC neurodivergent children. “ —Dr. Robert Jason Grant, EdD, LPC, RPT-S, founder of AutPlay Therapy, author, and nuerodiversity advocate

“Beginning with the premise that the ‘parents of children at the intersection of race and neurodivergence are mapmakers,’ Parenting at the Intersections is scrupulously researched yet approachable and intimate, with accounts from parents about their neurodivergent children, as well as their own experiences as neurodivergent children. Reflection prompts and somatic practices resource the reader and foster a sense of spaciousness and curiosity that allows for learning (and unlearning) how to support and advocate for our children and ourselves. Essential reading for the village and for educators, social workers, and others in the helping/gatekeeping professions.” —Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW, SEP, author of My Grandmother's Hands

“Illuminating and endlessly compassionate, this book validates the myriad ways in which those parenting at the intersections are pressured to help their children conform to societal expectations and ‘typical’ developmental milestones, while offering up insights and education that make it not just possible to—but impossible not to—better understand and honor each child’s unique journey, experience, challenges, and strengths. This is an invaluable, nuanced, and deeply needed guide to parenting diverse children as we move, together, toward a future in which all brains and bodies are supported—and belong.” —Jessica McCabe, How to ADHD

"There is a dearth of thoughtful resources for caregivers raising children at the intersection of race and neurodivergence. In Parenting at the Intersections, Jaya Ramesh and Priya Saaral offer a comprehensive, hopeful, and generous resource for any parent, caregiver, or educator looking to better understand and accommodate for the unique needs and experiences of differently wired children of color.” —Debbie Reber, CEO and founder, Tilt Parenting, and author of Differently Wired

"This brave and important book fills a crucial gap in the emerging discourse on neurodiversity, casting light on the complex experience of families that live at the intersection of race and conditions like autism, dyslexia, and ADHD. Rather than a glib how-to book of 'advice' for parents, it's the beginning of a dialogue on some of the most challenging and necessary issues of our time." —Steve Silberman, author of NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity
 

"Parenting at the Intersections offers an impressive discussion on the complexities of parenting neurodiverse children of color. Through poignant stories and friendly analysis, readers are invited to come together and reflect on both the challenges and joys of their parenting journeys amidst systems and institutions that often do not center their children. I've never seen a parenting guide like this that threads together community building, racial literacy and neurodiversity. Coauthors Ramesh and Saaral unpack our very notion of ‘difference’ from a social justice framework, and welcome in more light, joy, presence, and love into the parenting process. Essential and utterly new, this book offers compassionate wisdom and thoughtful strategies for parents and adults who love the full variety of BIPOC children." —Dr. Anu Taranath, professor, speaker, racial equity consultant, and author of Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World
 

"This book is chock full of insight, lived experience, and richly earned wisdom. No parent at the intersections will feel alone as they read it. It exudes a spirit of generosity toward parents of challenged children that is a healing balm." —Patty Wipfler, founder of Hand in Hand Parenting and coauthor of Listen: Five Simple Tools to Meet Your Everyday Parenting Challenges
 

Author Biography

Jaya Ramesh, MA LMHC, is a psychotherapist in private practice in the greater Seattle area, specializing in supporting BIPOC neurodivergent individuals and couples in having more authentic relationships. She also runs a DEI consultancy coaching leaders at organizations on creating anti-racist culture in the workplace. Priya Saaral, MSW, LICSW, RPT-S is a neurodivergent mama, a play therapist and a parenting coach in the Greater Seattle area, specializing in the emotional wellbeing of neurodivergent children and parents by helping them reconnect to their playful spirit amidst personal and structural adversity. Bayo Akomolafe is the author of These Wilds Beyond Our Fences, a professor currently at Pacifica Graduate Institute and University of Vermont, and the founder of the Emergence Network.