The Codex is Always on Crip Time: ADHD(ness) and Reading

abstract:This article aims to explore motives around the topic of reading within ADHD online communities from a book studies perspective. Such reflections must account for neuro-ableism in educational institutions and resulting hermeneutical injustices, as well as decades of pathologizing research about ADHD(ers) in favor of medical models of disability. Ultimately, the article argues that a deeper knowledge of book history might be a source of empowerment, especially for ADHDers struggling with reading or picking up a book at all. For example, the invention of the codex originally gave way to discontinuous and interruptible reading practices, and the novel as a genre to be read alone, silently, and from cover to cover is in many ways a peculiarity. Furthermore, books are three-dimensional material objects and therefore an "antilibrary" can very well be reinterpreted as consisting of stimming or fidget tools.