Useful tips for an NT

What does 'NT' mean please? I'm new to all this, I've seen this a few times in these forums but don't know what it is! Thank you.

frenz said:

What does 'NT' mean please? I'm new to all this, I've seen this a few times in these forums but don't know what it is! Thank you.

There is NT, NA and ND as meaning Neurologically Typical, Atypical and Divergent ~ with NT's referring to those who think and behave in the normal more generalized way; NA's the slightly more eccentric way usually associated with Personae (usually but incorrectly referred to as Personality) Disorders, epilepsy and or gender variations, and ND's referring to people who exhibit more unusual behavior in terms of diverging or differing from the behavioral norm such as with Autism or Asperger's Syndrome.

Most people just use the term Neuro' Typical (or NT) to refer to those who are not on the autistic spectrum, and Neuro' Divergent (ND) is used to refer to those who are on the autistic spectrum.

There are few on the spectrum who are not so obviously divergent from the norm in behavioral terms (i.e. those who can 'fit in', 'mask' or 'socially camouflage' themselves) that prefer to think of and call themselves as being Neuro' Atypical (or NA).

Here follows a thread link covering several takes on the NA consideration if you feel inclined to understand it a bit more:

Deepthought said:

people who exhibit more unusual behavior in terms of diverging or differing from the behavioral norm such as with Autism or Asperger's Syndrome.

Are there really well defined 'official' definitions? :)

I was under impression that ND, or neurodivergent stands for neurologically different, i.e. people with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dispraxia etc. The neurological difference affects and defines to a large extent the way people come across.

Deepthought said:

people who exhibit more unusual behavior in terms of diverging or differing from the behavioral norm such as with Autism or Asperger's Syndrome.

Are there really well defined 'official' definitions? :)

I was under impression that ND, or neurodivergent stands for neurologically different, i.e. people with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dispraxia etc. The neurological difference affects and defines to a large extent the way people come across.

Thank you very much Deepthought, this is all very helpful to me and maybe others too. I will go away and have a read. I've been trying not to use the term 'normal people' to describe the majority who find social interactions etc easy so it's useful to know. I'm learning all the time.

Tinyexplorer said:

Deepthought said:

people who exhibit more unusual behavior in terms of diverging or differing from the behavioral norm such as with Autism or Asperger's Syndrome.

Are there really well defined 'official' definitions? :)

Well a really well defined 'official' one might be the following one from Wikipedia possibly?:

Neurodiversity describes a basic aspect of natural difference within a given species. The term was popularized in the late 1990s by Australian sociologist Judy Singer and American journalist Harvey Blume to refer to variation in the human brain regarding sociability, learning, attention, mood and other mental functions in a non-pathological sense.^[1] The term emerged as a challenge to prevailing views that certain neurodevelopmental disorders are inherently pathological and instead adopts the social model of disability, in which societal barriers are the main contributing factor that disables people.^[2][3]

The subsequent neurodiversity paradigm has been controversial among autism advocates, with opponents saying that its conceptualization of the autism spectrum doesn't reflect the realities of individuals who have high support needs.^[4][5][6]

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurodiversity}

Tinyexplorer said:

I was under impression that ND, or neurodivergent stands for neurologically different, i.e. people with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dispraxia etc. The neurological difference affects and defines to a large extent the way people come across.

I was under a similar impression in terms of describing the same state of affairs in a slightly different way, which you added to with the ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia etc for further clarification. :-)