How do neurologically typical people feel & experience life?

I know this is pretty futile musing, although maybe some of the more neurologically typical people on here can help! (I shy away from using the term "NT's" because it feels a bit "them and us" to me).

I've found myself wondering, as I'm accepting, exploring and deepening my understanding of my own atypicalness & ASD diagnosis, about what it's like for others.

For every "aha!" moment I have about e.g. noisy restaurants, eye contact, lack of capability / impetus to maintain friendships, exhaustion in social situations, there is a corresponding "What's it like for others?" moment.

So for example, for typical people:

  • How does the world *sound*? Is it muted, filtered by attention etc?
  • How does eye contact *feel* when experienced as something that you *want* to do? Even with strangers?
  • What's it like to be drawn to want to be with a group of other people?
  • What's it like to enjoy a day out with friends, and not be exhausted (except in a tired & content kind of way)?
  • What's it like to be thrilled at the prospect of going out every single evening for days in a row?
  • What's it like to want to ask other people where they went on holiday, and be interested in what they tell you about where they went and what they saw?
  • What's it like to say the opposite of what you mean, because for e.g. you're being polite, and yet know that everyone knows what you actually mean?
  • What's it like to wish that you had more time for travel, seeing family members, more face to face meetings etc?
Parents
  • I can tell you even neurologically typical people struggle with most of those . As a NT person I don't really have any interest in what other people did on their holidays,I'm certainty not thrilled at the prospect of going out several evenings in a row and an constantly exhausted after social events with friends .There are no absolutes for NT people because as the old saying goes we are all on the spectrum.

Reply
  • I can tell you even neurologically typical people struggle with most of those . As a NT person I don't really have any interest in what other people did on their holidays,I'm certainty not thrilled at the prospect of going out several evenings in a row and an constantly exhausted after social events with friends .There are no absolutes for NT people because as the old saying goes we are all on the spectrum.

Children
  • Point upThis... - I think your premise that NTs are 'opposite' to us NAs is flawed and as says, some NTs don't enjoy the stuff you list any more than we do.

    FWIW, my musings...

    • How does the world *sound*? Is it muted, filtered by attention etc? It just sounds the way it sounds, they are just better able to 'tune in' to sources of interest and/or 'tune out' background noise...
    • How does eye contact *feel* when experienced as something that you *want* to do? Even with strangers? It doesn't feel like anything, but it's absence is noted - like if there was a reassuring background sound (I like the tick of my watch) and it was absent, you'd notice the absence...
    • What's it like to be drawn to want to be with a group of other people? The same as being drawn to a 'special interest' for us I's guess...
    • What's it like to enjoy a day out with friends, and not be exhausted (except in a tired & content kind of way)? The same as for us to enjoy a day of undertaking something we were interested in...
    • What's it like to be thrilled at the prospect of going out every single evening for days in a row? I suspect very few NTs are and the ones that are have some kind of neurological disorder of their own!
    • What's it like to want to ask other people where they went on holiday, and be interested in what they tell you about where they went and what they saw? Most of them them don't - do you 'want' to breathe? No, you do it by reflex... it's just 'social noise' like monkey's grooming each other's fur...
    • What's it like to say the opposite of what you mean, because for e.g. you're being polite, and yet know that everyone knows what you actually mean? They ARE saying what they mean, just they don't say it with the words themselves so as far as their concerned they aren't saying the opposite of what they mean
    • What's it like to wish that you had more time for travel, seeing family members, more face to face meetings etc? Same as wishing you had more time to do anything you couldn't do as much as you wanted due to time constraints...

    I think you're ascribing too much difference to NTs... they're more like us than you think - just 'diluted' and more their interests tend to be 'odd' from our perspective...

    Wink