What is YOUR definition of neurotypical?

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Clowncake is funny, let's try using that.

There is a dimension to this that is neither NT or AS. It's context or how a culture perceives diversity. In western culture uniformity is valued and diversity is often not valued, and anything diverse or outside the norm gets labeled as useless or a threat as a result.

I knew an old Cherokee medicine man who told me that Native American culture placed little value on uniformity. He gave the example of 20-20 vision and how everyone's eyesight is corrected to this standard in European culture. In his culture he said that farsighted meant you were a hunter and nearsighted meant you did intricate bead work. Diversity was their means to complete all the tasks that his culture needed to accomplish. Apparently the AS people were the Shamans.

Ok, maybe I should've explained that differently. Sorry. I don't really know how else to describe what my definition of neurotypical is. But doesn't everyone have at least something neurologically wrong with them to some degree? Is neurological supposed to mean normal? Maybe it's just me thinking this way.

I like what horseguy2u says. It depends on context. There is a line drawn somewhere. It's hard to explain where it is. It's all about dimension.

There is a scientific/statistical word "norm". DEFINITION - Norms are statistics that describe the test performance of a well-defined population.

The test of performance can be of anything, running, jumping, problem solving, holding your breath, etc. I believe the word "normal" is more or less slang developed from the statistical word "norm". It has more of a vague cultural meaning compared to the scientific /statistical word "norm". Being vague in its nature "normal" can be applied to many things in the common sloppy way that people tend to use language. Or it can be used against people, as it often is against people with diverse brain wiring diagrams to make the feel less that the person using the word "normal" against them.

I tend to think of "normal" as describing and having the importance of a high school cafeteria table clique.

I know there's a lot of anti-NT sentiment on this site, considering that many of us have had negative experiences with them at some point, but NT does NOT equal hatred of AS or people with it. All it means is someone with typical neurology, someone who lacks conditions like autism, OCD, or ADHD. Arguably, of these, autistic individuals are the least close to "neurotypical", but this is just a theory, since anecdotal evidence suggests that autism causes bigger changes in things like behavior and perception than the other conditions I've named.

Anyway, this whole "us vs. them" thing is something I've been seeing a lot on this site, and I think it's only making us look bad. It's understandable, sure, but it almost reminds me of how words like "autist", "autism", "autistic", etc. have become pejorative terms across the wider internet.

Neurotypical = someone with typical neurology, end of story.

A very important condition that does not apply here.

A person without autism. NT's can have OCD, ADHD, anxiety, depression, etc.

Regarding "us vs. them" and making us look bad...

I am old. I am tied. I have used immeasurable amounts of energy developing, refining and applying compensations for my socialization challenges in order to live, work and survive. All I ask for now as I am aging and have less energy to support my façade of socialization is what the legal profession calls "reasonable accommodations". If you are physically disabled an have to go to court, there are plenty of ramps and elevators. Same with curb cuts crossing the street.

I have experienced almost no reasonable accommodations for my disability, in fact it has cost me dearly many times. I always think of Rosa Parks. She was not a civil rights advocate. She was just tired riding a bus and the law said she had to give up her seat to a white person, something she had done all her life. But on that famous day on the bus, she was too tired to get up and she started a big change. I feel like her a lot. I am just too tired now to "fit in", to give them my seat on the bus.

So, my advice to you who are young and struggling is to secure your rights and the same level of reasonable accommodations that physically challenged people receive now before you get too old and tired because "them" are not going to give those accommodations to "us" in a gift wrapped package. We are probably going to have to fight for them, and in doing so, yes, we might "look bad" but I am too tired to care.