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How do neurologically typical people feel & experience life?

I'm done with Christmas Cards
over 4 years ago

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
  • over 4 years ago

    Personally I have a belief that there is no clear-cut line between NT and ASD and that different traits overlap

    I tend to think of NT people as sailing through life in a more natural flow but not neccessarily getting anywhere efficiently

    On the contrast I imagine a typical person with ASD as being more introverted meaning social situations are a bigger challenge as well as overthinking everything trying to be as efficient as possible when in reality it might just be minor irrelevant issues causing more stress than they deserve

Reply
  • over 4 years ago

    Personally I have a belief that there is no clear-cut line between NT and ASD and that different traits overlap

    I tend to think of NT people as sailing through life in a more natural flow but not neccessarily getting anywhere efficiently

    On the contrast I imagine a typical person with ASD as being more introverted meaning social situations are a bigger challenge as well as overthinking everything trying to be as efficient as possible when in reality it might just be minor irrelevant issues causing more stress than they deserve

Children
  • over 4 years ago in reply to NAS62563

    That's why it's considered a spectrum... and why I prefer to self-define as Neuro-atypical vs. the majority who are Neuro-typical.

    ASD is a diagnostic label that basically takes the negative impacts of being 'atypical' and if they affect a person to a certain degree and in pre-defined areas says "You're autistic".

    It's not helped by the fact that with great effort a lot of us can 'pass' as NT, for a while at least...