2 QUESTIONS

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1. I have never heard the term "NT" or "neurotypical" until i subscribed to this site not too long ago. Does "NT" refer to anyone who doesn't have AS? And if so, is it derogatory?

2. I live in the central florida area right outside orlando (altamonte to be exact). I wanted to know if any other aspies were around the same area and maybe wanted to chill? I went to a school on sand lake road called "PACE" which was a school for people with learning disabilities and the like. Is anyone else on here from there??




...yes, i realize that was more than 2 questions and they were irrelevant to each other...

NT just refers to 'normal' thinking, or better, 'average' thinking.

Is it derogatory? Some here use it like it is. Some use it to demonstrate the difference between aspies and average people.

Its a label and labels often disable

Aspergers are neurologically un-typical, NT refers to NeuroTypicals. It is used instead of the term Normal.

NT's are the ones whose picture you see in the newspaper who were arrested for torturing small animals.

NT's are the ones who sell used cars.

NT's are the ones who convince people to spend thousands of dollars to have their golf stroke computer analyzed.

NT simply means "Neurotypical" and it means that you don't have an Autistic Spectrum Disorder / Pervasive Developmental Disorder. It means your brain is wired the way brains are usually wired.

As for whether it's derogatory or not, that depends on whether the person using it is trying to use it in a derogatory manner. There's nothing implicitly derogatory about telling someone that their brain is "not broken."

NT refers to people who don't have AS. I don't know if people with ADD/ADHD, Tourette's, Schizophrenia or Personality Disorders qualify as NT's, though. Tim Tex mentioned that in another thread. As for Florida, no, I live in southern California right now.

I consider myself to be neurotypical, although I've never been officially diagnosed. When Aspies have referred to me as such, I've never felt that it was meant disrespectfully. It simply implies that I am off the spectrum (or part of the 'outgroup' in the Aspie- world which by itself doesn't have to carry any stigma).

As for my ADHD (which is diagnosed), I don't think that invalidates the neurotypical label in this context. For instance, we often refer to people of African/Asian/South American/Aboriginal descent as "people of colour", as opposed to "white". In actuality, I'm probably more "peach" than "white" (and both peach and white are colours). Still, in the context of skin pigmentation, I'm classified as white despite not resembling a snowy owl or arctic fox.

Curiously, if I were in an ADD forum, I'd identify myself as ADD and no longer consider myself neurotypical. Ironically, in that context, I'd probably consider Aspies without ADD as neurotypical.

I guess what I'm saying is that it is all contextual. In the context of Wrong Planet, I'm perfectly comfortable being called neurotypical or NT.

Neurotypical root word break down: Neuro means it has to do with the brain's wiring, and typical meaning average or normal.

Neurotypical is describing anyone who has the average neuro-thinking patterns. A person with autism, ocd, schizophrenia, asperger's, etc, could not be thought of usually as completely neurotypical.

Yes, NT means neurologically typical or average. Ironically enough, "average" only exists statistically and not in living form.

Depending on the website you go to, NT is most often used to describe anyone who is not autistic. However, some people such as myself find this illogical since, as mentioned earlier, not all nonautistics are by any means "neurologically typical". I tend most often to use "nonautistic", or sometimes "NA" (but usually I avoid the latter since many don't know what I'm talking about).

Also depending on the site you go to, it may be used in a derogatory manner, or simply as a neutral label. I think more often than not, given some of the animosity of auties towards the nonautistic world, it's used at least slightly derogatorily, and sometimes downright aggressively.

On average, I would say the population of Wrong Planet does not use it aggressively, mostly either slightly derogatorily or neutral.

For a short while, until I learned "NT" = "NeuroTypical", I had thought "NT" referred to one of the Myers-Briggys typologies, those who were iNtuitive Thinkers. (ENTJ, ENTP, INTJ, and INTP).