Neurotypical weaknesses?
they tend to lie too much
they tend to rely too much on emotional manipulation
often its harder to convince them by using reason, hence their relying on emotional manipulation
they tend to have difficulty on finding interests that don't involve sports or romance
they tend to have difficultly thinking in detail
they tend to care to much about what other people think of them
they tend to believe anything that the media and internet tell them constantly, even if all evidence shows it to be false
they tend to have difficultly understanding the spiritual side of religion and have to rely on social religion
they often tend to not be as good at introspection
they tend to have a ridiculous assumption that everyone else thinks like they do unless proven otherwise, in which case they tend to negatively react; which is opposite to how autistics tend to assume people think differently then they do, unless proven otherwise, in which case our reaction is typically more positive.
and in conversation they tend to pay more attention to body language and tone of voice then what the person is actually saying, often resulting in them missing the point of what someone said.
They're people. Everyone has some sort of weakness, and can have any sort of weakness that you can think of. But what general weaknesses to NTs have? You can't answer that question without massively over-generalizing, or just listing every conceivable human foible. Think about it this way: when people start "Do aspies like/tend to do [fill in the blank]" threads on this site, someone will usually point out that all aspies are different, and hence it doesn't make sense to generalize with a simple yes or no, because aspies aren't just one homogeneous mass of people who are all the same. Likewise, there's just as much, if not more, diversity among how NTs act, think, display their imperfections, etc. So honestly, I don't see much point in asking the question..
Also, any answer you give is likely to apply to some aspies as well. For example, to counter some previous responses, aspies can miss small details, they can be manipulative, they can be too concerned with what others think of them, they can be gullible and believe what the media tells them, they can miss the point of what someone else said, etc. Just like NTs can. But to broadly generalize that "this is how NTs are messed up" frankly strikes me as vaguely elitist and misguided, and disregards the fact that we all, NT or otherwise, tend to have our strengths and weaknesses.
Are those even weaknesses? I think neurotypicals simply can afford those behaviors, so they do. Unlike aspies, they're naturally good at taking care of their status, which would suffer if they weren't constantly challenging common sense, oversimplifying anything someone else tells them (the more so the lower the speaker's status is), and subtly or openly bullying others when they can to further their goals. Why bother to be conscientious about any task when you can be sloppy and know someone else---perhaps an aspie---will be forced to fix it for you, allowing you to spend your time on something more pleasurable, or more useful to keep securing your status?
Of course, they don't need to think explicitly about all this. In fact, when they read or hear it expressed verbally, they'll probably regard it as a heinous attitude, not recognizing it in themselves. It's just automatic---inborn survival skills, and there's no question they work.
Oh for pete's sake, any assumption of any group is a generalization. What's so wrong with that? Stereotypes become so for a reason. They vastly apply to the members of a group. They do not apply to every single member, nor does it exist exclusively in that group, but it's still a stereotype for that group.
Everyone generalizes. Aspies generalize too.
Good thread idea, OP.
Shallowness.
They're more preoccupied with peer acceptance than in following their own way in every aspect.
Wait, those are negative, but are they really weaknesses? hmm...
They can't see the (really) big picture at all. Example: About 20 years ago my mother bought some refill soap. It had just a cap, the pump was to be taken from an empty soap. She said it was cheaper than the soap with the pump. "Yes, and more environmentally friendly," I said.
"How?" she asked.
I pointed out that the pump consisted of more plastic than the cap.
She laughed and said that she didn't think that little piece of plastic made any difference. Mentally I in response. "No," I said. "That little piece of plastic doesn't make any difference. But that little piece of plastic less in every soap we use in a year, plus every soap bottle everyone use during a year, those make a difference!"
She looked at me as if she suddenly had an epiphany. It hadn't even occurred to her. While I can't help but think like that.
Only care about short term goals. This is a particularly huge problem/weakness in politics. What the world needs at this criitical point isn't short term solutions from one election to the next, it's long term solutions with sustainable answers.
Power play comes into this category as well.
Being too conformist. Lots of people live their life as they are expected to and on their death bed they regret things like prioritizing job over family. At least some of them know they're selling out. A colleague of my mother needed a heart attack to realize that she needed to fulfill her dream of going back to her birthplace. She had wanted to move to her mother's house I think it was, but hadn't found a good opportunity. Now she wanted to live the life she wanted and move and take the chance.
NTs are very poorly equipped to deal with people that are different than them, even more so than aspies are (I think this is very normal for everyone though). Even if you're the majority, it still puts you at a disadvantage when you can't deal with someone. (Of course this is an even greater disadvantage to us who suffer for it, but...)
I think NTs have a big weakness in their mind in how they handle something unprecedented, more so than us. Without anything familiar to lean on and without anyone to tell them how to act, they're lost. I think we on the other hand are so used to being out of our element that we could more easily deal with it.
This isn't really based on anything in particular, just assumption on my part.
I'll add more as I think of them.
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I am not really sure if NT weaknesses can be categorized and since I am not NT it is difficult to say really. Plus everyone is so different whether they are NT or not. Everyone has a weakness whether they admit it or not.
One person may have a weakness for chocolate or maybe they have a phobia of small places or maybe who knows....
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"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure."
They cannot think for themselves or independently, they belong to a Hive mind and have to think the same as everybody else to feel connected.
If the man on the TV said the sky was green, and all their friends were now saying the sky was green, they themselves would believe it, they would never look up and see that it is blue.
Every NT person I know in my life has their weaknesses and their strenghts, how am I supposed to be generic while making a list of the weaknesses of them all?
There isn't a single weakness they all display, plus I hate generalizing and I'm not going to generalize and say "NTs are such and such and such" while this is not true for them all.
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