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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 Reply Children
  • over 4 years ago in reply to I'm done with Christmas Cards

    I've never found eye contact painful, but I don't really know how you're supposed to do it / how much is enough. I guess I don't get anything out of it (and don't really understand why it's OK to basically stare at someone) so I always worry about doing it wrong. I do get the impression that you're supposed to do it for longer than I find comfortable, so i go for the good old "look at the mouth instead of the eyes and they'll never know" trick and that seems to work.

    I never get tired of looking into my dog's big brown eyes on the other hand, but then a dog will look away and not stare at you for ages.

    My better half doesn't do long eye contact either, despite being NT (as far as we know) but in his case it's more that he's quite shy so it makes him uncomfortable.