NT opinion of the word 'neurotypical'

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My counselor says that she doesn't like the word "neurotypical" & even more so, describing someone as an NT. It's not because she thinks it's derogatory but because she thinks that society has the need to categorize people so they can stick with their "own kind", so to speak. If it makes any difference I also agree. I hate saying that someone is an NT and I hate saying that someone is an Aspie. They're too concrete and seem to describe people innaccurately as that being all they are - an Aspie or an NT. I'd rather say "someone without AS" and "someone with AS" because at least those phrases don't consume someones whole identity.

I think it's a way of organizing and grouping people you are referring to. I'm sure there are french people who are just like me in many ways, but I'm not french. It's a way to put into categories things that we are describing so we don't have to go into a long dissertation about what we are talking about. Same thing Callista said pretty much.

I have never heard the term NT until I had a son on the spectrum. That could be a reason why some look at it as Autistic vs Not Autistic, However; when I personally think of neurotypical I think of someone who does not test outside of the mean. A person with an IQ of 160, but tests in the mean in other areas is not neurotypical to me, because most people have an IQ within the mean. I don't think of neurotypical as autism only. I do not think of it as derogatory at all. To me it's more of a communication tool.

Kinda like the whole "what is normal?" thing.

But also, people don't like to think of themselves as "typical." Even if they are.

I have said this before...but I heard the word "Neurotypical" before I knew anything much about the autistic spectrum, and the person I heard it from is most likely not autistic..
(though it could be a subject of debate)

He used it in a somewhat derogatory way to describe the woman he was dating...."She's alright, but she's too Neurotypical"....as in "Normal"...likes boring stuff like shopping/talking about feelings/ Sex and the City-type-womanly things....

The concept made perfect sense to me at the time...

(of course this came from someone who had been in a relationship with me for 2 years)

I don't think it is necc. derogatory, but I suppose it can be used that way.....

That's how and why I use it. Some days I have to type, backspace and type a word half a dozen times due to motor-control issues (I can repeatedly type the same series of incorrect characters again and again and again before I get it right when my motor-control is at its worst). Typing can be very painful and very slow and very frustrating for me. I do not know of any alternative that is as easy to type.