I’m an Odd Duck: Observations & Insights about Neurodiversity is a short, lived-experience book for families, educators, and fellow odd ducks who want to better understand neurodiversity from the inside out.

I'm an Odd Duck

Not everyone is given the rulebook.

This book offers a way to better understand it.

Through personal stories, reflection, and practical observations, Joel Kottman explores what it can feel like to navigate communication, sensory overwhelm, social expectations, bullying, self-advocacy, school, college, and the transition toward adulthood as a neurodivergent person.

Written from lived experience, this book is designed to spark understanding, conversation, and compassion. It is not a clinical guide or formal educational framework. It is an honest first-person perspective for anyone who wants to better understand, support, and celebrate neurodiverse people.

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About The Book

I’m an Odd Duck explores what it can feel like to move through the world as a neurodivergent person, especially when the rules everyone else seems to know were never clearly explained.

Drawing on his own experience, Joel Kottman shares candid observations about communication, sensory overload, social expectations, bullying, self-advocacy, school, college, career transition, and the deep need for belonging.

With warmth, clarity, and humor, the book invites readers to better understand neurodiverse experiences and reflect on how assumptions, expectations, and environments shape daily life.

This is not a how-to manual or a clinical guide.
It is a starting point—for reflection, conversation, and deeper understanding.

Fellow Odd Ducks

For neurodivergent readers who want to feel less alone, better understand their own experiences, and see their differences reflected with honesty, humor, and hope.

Who This Book Is For

Families and Caregivers

For parents, relatives, and support systems who want a more human understanding of what neurodivergent people may experience at school, at home, online, and in the wider world.

For teachers, advisors, counselors, nonprofits, congregations, and community leaders seeking a first-person perspective on communication, belonging, bullying, self-advocacy, and support.

Educators, Schools, and Community Organizations

What Often Goes Unnoticed

Many neurodiverse people spend years trying to decode expectations they were never explicitly taught. They may internalize confusion, frustration, shame, or the belief that they are “missing something” everyone else somehow understands.

I’m an Odd Duck explores these experiences not to assign blame, but to bring clarity.

Through personal observation, honest reflection, and lived experience, Joel helps readers better understand how expectations are communicated, how assumptions are formed, and how those invisible rules shape learning, relationships, belonging, self-advocacy, and daily life.

What Readers Are Saying

I'm an Odd Duck is a resourceful tool for both neurodiverse and neurotypical learners looking to gain more insight into cognitive differences and disabilities. Being an active part of Joel's journey as he navigated college with patience, resilience, and determination was beyond rewarding. Whether you want to learn how complex learning disabilities impact daily living, implementing problem-solving and conflict resolution strategies, or how to support neurodiverse learners, this is the book for you!

SCOTT DONOVAN

Director, OPTIONS Transitions to Independence

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING

Joel Kottman’s eloquence as a storyteller allows me to hear his words in his voice as I read. His first-hand account offers valuable insights into one person's perspective on the neurodiverse experience. It is an excellent reminder of the importance of community in creating adaptations to allow each person to be their most successful self.

KIM BELL

Director of Community Connections, ConnectAbility

What Readers Will Find

This is not a manual or a checklist. It’s a short, reflective look at what it feels like to navigate college as a neurodivergent student.

Personal reflections on navigating academic and social environments
Insight into unspoken expectations—and how they shape experience
Language for understanding self-advocacy and belonging
Perspective on connection, support, and community
Stories that make differences easier to recognize and talk about

Concise by design. Reflective by intention.

How This Book Helps Readers Understand Neurodivergent Students

I’m an Odd Duck offers a short, experience-based perspective on navigating college as a neurodivergent student.

This book is especially helpful for educators, families, and students trying to better understand neurodiverse experiences in college.

It may be used as a starting point for conversations about neurodiversity in higher education—helping readers better understand how expectations, communication, and environment shape the student experience.

Readers can use it for:

Understanding how neurodivergent students experience college differently
Starting conversations about neurodiversity in the classroom
Supporting student self-advocacy and communication
Reflecting on how expectations are communicated (or not)

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