haidouk wrote:
3) People should not be hung up on "normal", which simply means "most commonly occurring". "Normal" isn't something anyone should feel a need to aspire to. It's literally referring to commonness.
"Normal" DOESN'T just mean that. It also means "serving to establish a standard," i.e. normative. See the
dictionary.com definition. Hence the word "normal" isn't really quite compatible with your remarks below:
haidouk wrote:
The far bigger problem is the fear that makes people uncomfortable with their uniqueness. Have pride and appreciation for who you are. Not in the sense of "superiority", but just love yourself for exactly who you are. Be kind to yourself and give yourself a break. Don't judge yourself by the standards of ignorant and hostile people, or try to prove anything to them. You are different (i.e. not "normal")? FANTASTIC! You are actually an interesting person who has value and who brings who brings something to the table. Abandoning this (which you can't really do anyway) just to "fit in" is what is truly objectionable, and quite sad.
In my opinion, "neurotypical" is fine (as a word to refer to people without any developmental disability), and "allistic" is a fine non-negative term for "non-autistic."
In my opinion we need a new word for a category of people in between "autistic" and "allistic," i.e. people who don't quite fit the diagnostic criteria for ASD but have a lot of the same issues. (In the early days of the autistic rights movement, such people were referred to as "cousins." We need a word whose meaning is more self-evident, such as perhaps "autistic-like"?)
_________________
- Autistic in NYC - Resources and new ideas for the autistic adult community in the New York City metro area.
- Autistic peer-led groups (via text-based chat, currently) led or facilitated by members of the Autistic Peer Leadership Group.
- My Twitter / "X" (new as of 2021)