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Neurotypical Disorder - a comparison between Autistic & NT minds

Pixiefox

Below is a parody, with ideas taken from a reddit article. It is not meant to make any neurotypical people feel bad or inferior, it's to highlight that autistic thinking & behaviour is defined mostly by deficits, but NT thinking & behaviour can also be seen in terms of deficits.

(By the way, I know some very kind, caring neurotypical people, who I value highly)

If you compare the list below to the list of autistic Diagnostic criteria, it illustrates the real differences between the two types of minds. Autistic people find it difficult to understand the NT behaviour listed below, and NT people often find it hard to understand (due to masking) that autistic people are not thinking like this:

Diagnostic Criteria for Neurotypical Disorder (NTD)

  1. obsession with social banter, interpersonal drama and politics, “playing the game,” fitting in with a specific social group, and/or social hierarchy.

  2. Tendency to be easily influenced by their peers and to conform unquestioningly to societal expectations. Subsequent deficits in the cultivation of special interests and/or exploration of innovative, novel thoughts and feelings.

  3. Difficulty engaging with, or seeing meaning in activities, thought-processes, or forms of interpersonal engagement that reflect individuality and personal creativity, unless they are widely adopted by one’s peers.

  4. Inflexible adherence to social norms, or ritualized patterns of verbal or nonverbal behavior prescribed by society (e.g. greeting rituals, gestures and phrases

  5. Tendency to use language to say one thing but mean something else (e.g. asking a question such as “how are you doing?” but not wanting an honest answer)

  6. Highly predictable, restricted interests (e.g., career, normative activities, social rules, gossip, prescriptive banter)

  7. Immediate and rigid opinions on various topics and subjects, without observable curiosity or motivation for in-depth research.

  8. Inability to be aware of all aspects of one’s sensory environment simultaneously, with subsequent tendency to, for example, socialize in loud places with numerous competing sensory inputs (see A.2).

  9. Diminished attention to detail (e.g. lack of awareness of such things as landscape, sky/lighting, background noises, ambient smells, personal space, or subtle changes in the environment).

  10. Inability to get absorbed in a task or activity fully; deficits in depth of experience.

  11. Diminished capacity for arranging information, systemizing, and seeing patterns and relations.

  12. Deficits in “outside the box,” creative problem solving.

Parents

  • Not funny no.

    (I am in the middle of a big project and so not posting much but I do lurk for a few minutes every day. ..But today, I cannot let pass this rhetorical vitriol.)

    I give a warning, once again, against isolating one group as more valid than another. It is slippery slope down to intolerance, prejudice and hate. There is no right or wrong or more or less valid way to experience the world.

    Why must it be said? Please stop fomenting divisive and hurtful feelings with these thoughtless sorts of offerings.

    Seek to understand and find love and common ground, rather seeking differences to throw as barbs at others whom you have not taken the trouble to have sought to understand. It is lazy and hurtful. Not funny.

  • in reply to Uhane

    Hi Uhane

    I did not intend any offence, invalidation, intolerance, or prejudice. I stated that I value some NT people I know highly. This was not meant to be divisive.

    My recent research has been seeking to examine the differences between how autistic and NT minds work, for the sole reason of understanding myself and others better.

    Many times on this forum I have seen people posting who are highly depressed because they see autism as completely negative. But neurotypical people are not all happy souls getting along together and doing everything better than autistic people. They have communication problems, relationship problems, and various other issues that affect them. But they are never given a "Diagnostic criteria" which tells them basically "this is who you are, a list of deficits." Autistic people are given that, which tells them they are a person defined by:

    1. Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, ranging, for example, from abnormal social approach and failure of normal back-and-forth conversation; to reduced sharing of interests, emotions, or affect; to failure to initiate or respond to social interactions.
    2. Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction, ranging, for example, from poorly integrated verbal and nonverbal communication; to abnormalities in eye contact and body language or deficits in understanding and use of gestures; to a total lack of facial expressions and nonverbal communication.
    3. Deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships, ranging, for example, from difficulties adjusting behavior to suit various social contexts; to difficulties in sharing imaginative play or in making friends; to absence of interest in peers.
    4. Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech (e.g., simple motor stereotypes, lining up toys or flipping objects, echolalia, idiosyncratic phrases).
    5. Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns of verbal or nonverbal behavior (e.g., extreme distress at small changes, difficulties with transitions, rigid thinking patterns, greeting rituals, need to take same route or eat same food every day).
    6. Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus (e.g., strong attachment to or preoccupation with unusual objects, excessively circumscribed or perseverative interests).

    I know that for people to get support they need a "diagnosis" but I wish there was a way for everyone's needs to be met without this rather negative criteria, which causes many autistic adults to feel there is no hope for them to achieve anything. If people respond to my ideas with humour, that's a way of letting off steam in a safe place and making themselves feel part of a group. We are not angels who can rise above everything thrown at us, we're human beings with feelings and emotions. We get things wrong sometimes, we get angry or upset sometimes. That doesn't mean we're bad people.

  • in reply to Pixiefox

    Great point!

    We are always the ones who are pathologised purely because there are more people of the predominant neurotype than there are of us neurodivergent people, which makes no sense and shows that their ways of being are valued more than ours!

    That’s why your point and original post is so important as it raises the question of how would non autistic people feel if they were described like we are so often? (Rhetorical question!) This supports our wellbeing and a positive autistic identity as we can then realise that the reason we are so described so negatively is usually because of a power imbalance, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being autistic! We are Ausomely Autistic!

    However, I do understand Uhane‘s point about creating division as we cannot educate non autistic people effectively about our autistic experiences if there seems to be some obvious tension between both communities. We are all human after all and we all need to appreciate the neurodiversity of our population.

  • in reply to Pixiefox
    Pixiefox said:
    But when a person finds out they are autistic, the neurotypical people close to them may find it very difficult to accept this - although that may be in part to do with masking, I believe that the neurotypical brain finds it difficult to accept a change in someone's identity, and likes to feel that everyone in their "group" is the same, as they would be uncomfortable feeling "different" .

    You are welcome!

     I completely agree with your point here, this is often linked to the fact that social hierarchy and status is often very important for non autistic people (and neurotypical people) and therefore when we disclose our autistic identity for example, this then can create changes in group dynamics and therefore leave the non autistic person feeling ‘unsafe’.

    Also, to link another point, I have noted that fake interactions such as constant small talk are very common amongst non autistic people, which firstly means they very rarely get any deeper than surface level communication and secondly sometimes seem to prefer this to authentic deep dive conversations (part of our natural communication style).

    Pixiefox said:
    I don't know what is the best way to overcome the differences in communication and thinking between Autistic and non autistic people, but although NT people can't understand us if they are not educated about autism, It's harder for me to educate people if I don't understand the way they think and what their challenges are. 

    Increased understanding of the double empathy problem and more broadly culture clashes.

    Pixiefox said:
    I would like to see more understanding and acceptance about the fact that there are two neurotypes in our species. I believe there are many, many more autistic people than are diagnosed or aware of it at present, due to us not realising that we don't all think the same way and due to unconscious masking. I'm trying to work towards the idea that autism is not a medical condition, it's nowhere near as rare as people believe, and to see how we can foster understanding between the two neurotypes.

    There are more than two neurotypes in our species, in fact infinite neurotypes!

    Here is a brilliant graphic that explains my point:

    Non exhaustive list, but I hope you understand my point!

Reply
  • in reply to Pixiefox
    Pixiefox said:
    But when a person finds out they are autistic, the neurotypical people close to them may find it very difficult to accept this - although that may be in part to do with masking, I believe that the neurotypical brain finds it difficult to accept a change in someone's identity, and likes to feel that everyone in their "group" is the same, as they would be uncomfortable feeling "different" .

    You are welcome!

     I completely agree with your point here, this is often linked to the fact that social hierarchy and status is often very important for non autistic people (and neurotypical people) and therefore when we disclose our autistic identity for example, this then can create changes in group dynamics and therefore leave the non autistic person feeling ‘unsafe’.

    Also, to link another point, I have noted that fake interactions such as constant small talk are very common amongst non autistic people, which firstly means they very rarely get any deeper than surface level communication and secondly sometimes seem to prefer this to authentic deep dive conversations (part of our natural communication style).

    Pixiefox said:
    I don't know what is the best way to overcome the differences in communication and thinking between Autistic and non autistic people, but although NT people can't understand us if they are not educated about autism, It's harder for me to educate people if I don't understand the way they think and what their challenges are. 

    Increased understanding of the double empathy problem and more broadly culture clashes.

    Pixiefox said:
    I would like to see more understanding and acceptance about the fact that there are two neurotypes in our species. I believe there are many, many more autistic people than are diagnosed or aware of it at present, due to us not realising that we don't all think the same way and due to unconscious masking. I'm trying to work towards the idea that autism is not a medical condition, it's nowhere near as rare as people believe, and to see how we can foster understanding between the two neurotypes.

    There are more than two neurotypes in our species, in fact infinite neurotypes!

    Here is a brilliant graphic that explains my point:

    Non exhaustive list, but I hope you understand my point!

Children
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