What are 'NTs'?

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I know NT stands for Neurotypical, but what exactly is a Neurotypical? The name would appear to suggest the modal neurology, but in that case, why are people going on about how a lot of people are NT? What exactly defines an NT?

Somebody who doesn't fit the DSM diagnostic criteria for autism or aspergers. At least that's how I've seen it used on WP and in various blogs. Now and then somebody will branch out and say you aren't NT if you fit the DSM criteria for anything, be it schizophrenia, OCD or what have you. But that very, very broad defintion never sticks and one post later people go back to using it to mean "not autistic". That's a conversational slang criteria and I have the feeling you are looking for a neurological one. But the term "neurotypical" seems to have arisen from the need to discuss how autistic people process information differently without resorting to "abnormal" vs. "normal". To be quite sure, schizophric people process information quite differently from everybody who doesn't have schizophrenia. But somehow they got stuck with "abnormal" in discussions about schizophrenia and the opposite of "abnormal" is "normal". So you don't have to create a new word that replaces "normal" to mean "people who don't have this" unless you first get rid of "abnormal". And getting rid of "abnormal" as a descriptor is what autistic people are currently doing her and elsewhere. Autistic people seem to have better self-advocacy than pretty much any other group described in the DSM. You can't get rid of "abnormal" withoput coming up for a better name for autism's opposite than "normal". Thus "neurotypical" means "not autistic".

On the forum we use it to identify people that are not autistic. Since neurotypical is the non-autistic diagnostic in some of the test available.

We use it since saying "normal" people isn't exactly a correct wording for no one is actually normal if you look deeply, since everyone has one or other element of their being that come to be out of norm. Most NT just happen to able to hide their out of norm element to the general community better then us.

Of course technically many people are not NT, ie. anyone with any neurological disorder or even a difference that isn't a disorder at all (eg. synestheSIA). However, still, the majority (even though it isn't such a large majority of non-NT only means autistic) don't have such known neuro differences. Of course it doesn't mean their neurology is all alike, but they are generally considered to be within the normal range.

it just crossed my mind: What about a person with a nonautistic disorder, i e downs syndrome....is they also considered to be called NT...?

A good question and one that I've had many chances to ponder as I watch children with Down's syndrome interact with others and with my daughter who has autism in special ed classes. I have come to the conclusion that yes, they are neurotypical. Neurologically, the syndrome has affected their brains so that they have a different neurology than anyone who doesn't have Downs. Yet, when I watch them interact, their interactions are undeniably NT interactions. By this I mean that Downs doesn't seem to have any affect on how well they get social stuff or how comfortable they are with social interaction. They "get it" and interact intuitively. Yes, they are mentally ret*d. But clearly you don't need to grasp abstract logic or have a good memory for facts or be able to learn deeply about something in order to interact with people easily. Clearly it's a different part of the brain. Since autism seems to be defined in the DSM in large part by how one interacts with others, people with Downs syndrome are neurotypical because- despite mental retardation- they interact with others in a way that the others find completely natural and familiar.

The other day I was at the mall where there's a conveyor belt stretching from first to second floor. It's rather slow so if you're standing still it'll take you about 3-4 minutes to reach the top, but if you walk, like 20 seconds. And EVERY DAY people choose to just stand and wait! This day I was getting annoyed with this as always and I usually walk to the top, but I noticed that everyone behind me also started to walk. Only one word struck me, sheep. NT's are sheeps

I also think so, and i have studfied it often, i view it like this:

The neurotypicals= NTs-Downs, ret*d people.

The autistics= Aspies-Auties.

You have no idea how many times that thought has struck me. Watch a group of people sitting together everyone is waiting for someone to get up first. The "normal" human is a follower.

Except that the leaders in these groups are also NT. NT does divide up largely into leaders and followers so I guess that puts AS people outside of the group along with other eccentric people who are neither leaders nor followers. "Eccentric" being the term for NT people who are also neither leaders nor followers.

Not this tired argument again...

And hence why using a term NT against a term like AS or autism is inaccurate. NT describes an abstract concept of neurological brain wiring (a.k.a. "brain architecture") which is predominant. AS and autism (according to the DSM) are essentially a collection of symptoms. One could very conceivably have an atypical "brain architecture" yet exhibit no autistic symptoms.

Saying someone can either be NT or autistic but not both is sort of like saying someone can either be perceptive or paraplegic but not both.

To me the term NT means anybody who is not on the autistic spectrum, anybody who does not have ADD or ADHD, anybody who is not schizophrenic. I don't know about somebody who has bipolar disorder or clinical depression.

True enough, exept that those are only about 30-10% of the heard, so the "followers" are a large majority. (It would have been strange if it was the opposit. )
I disagree to that AS people don't form packs/heards/groups etc, if we didn't WP wouldn't exist. But I think ours are build differently, more of a expert-leads group.


Are you sure of this? There can't be endless ways for the brain to do things.

How could someone be both, from what I know it's a way of thinking based upon what goes to where in you brain, and it can't connect to both places, care to explain?
This isn't Hollywood where the hopeless geek becomes the schoolking/queen after everyone gets to know him/her and he/she stops with the geek interests and start going to partys.

Well, I guess I am one of the odd ones... I don't see as a spectrum-specific designator, per se.

AS: Asperger's Syndrome
ASD: Autism Spectrum Disorder
NT: Neurotypical
Non-NT: Atypical, non-spectrum; affected by bipolar disorder or other condition; otherwise differentiated from the 'norm'.


M.

Maybe we need a new word, to describe those who have both NT and Aspie traits

Neurotypical... is there a 'typical' brain architecture that the majority of people fit? I don't think so.

Perhaps we're better off dividing humanity into three types: followers, leaders, and people who are neither (assuming the things being lead/followed/ignored are social) . Aspies would tend to fall into the 'neither' category in that case. Most people would fall into the 'follower' caste, and a few into the 'leader' group. From that, NTs can be defined as a member of the follower caste.