Is there a such thing as Neurotypical?

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Is there a such thing as a "normal" brain/psychological state?
Yes 59%  59%  [ 22 ]
No 41%  41%  [ 15 ]
Total votes : 37

visagrunt
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14 Dec 2009, 2:52 pm

Typicality exists within a range of characteristics where a predominance of individuals within a population display a particular characteristic within that range.

For example, handedness: Typical handedness is right handed. Atypical is left handed or ambidextrous

But, that being said, a right handed person may still perform some tasks with the left hand, because that is the hand with which the skill was learned, or because is provides some advantage (in sport, for example).

Does neurotypicality exist? Yes, clearly. For almost every characteristic, there is a typical exemplar.

Does an individual exist who demonstrates neurotypicality in every characteristic: I doubt it very much.


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poopylungstuffing
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14 Dec 2009, 3:42 pm

I don't think that a person needs to be completely void of conditions to be neurotypical..this is a point that I argue a lot..I consider people who are neurotypical to be people who do not have difficulties that are common to the autistic spectrum...In my idea of neurotypicals...they can have all sorts of other problems...but still be neurotypical..My NT sister might be a tad on the borderline side..but she is still NT in my book...she was markedly more "normal" in her development than I was when we were growing up. She had no problems with making friends and bonding with my cousins and whatnot...she would not be teased for being different, in fact, she was obsessed with conformity...which made stuff very difficult for her in my neuro-eccentric family...I am privy to all kinds of people all the time because I help run a venue, and i am able to see the different between the neurotypicals and non-neurotypicals...The vast majority of people who tromp through my venue seem to be NT...They make eye-contact with each other..there is a sense of them belonging to a group..they are very direct...they chit chat...they often share a common vibe of fitting in with their peers...they have peers..
Then there are the non-neurotypicals..who come around often become our closer friends...there is usually something decidedly awkward and unusual about them...they usually have a history of not relating to their peers or of not having peers and they often find others to bond with at my place who have similar issues, and that is why among our regulars, we have small community of dedicated regulars who are not exactly neurotypical...not all of them are aspies...there are also schizophrenics and whatnot and then plenty who are neither here-nor-there, or who are social, but heavily medicated........I think that our place is a tad too weird to appeal to the super mainstream NT types...so we don't get many of them as regulars...also we don't really appeal to a lot of aspies..because it is a social place..and it can be kinda loud and cluttered..we are used to it, but we can't expect that of everybody.....we did have regular aspie gatherings here for a while, and there was a mixing of the aspies from the aspie-groups and some of our likely-aspie peers at times...at some of out old bbqs there were times when there seemed to be an ASish majority...

I am babbling..

my point is that I think there are NTs...

People who may have problems, but for whom social functioning and all the problems associated with the autistic spectrum are the least of their concerns....some of them can be totally nuts...but according to my definition of NT they are nonetheless NT....

Girls who expect you to automatically hug them and make chitchat everytime they see you..and understand what they want when they just stand there staring at you...even though they have been unsuccessful in getting you to reciprocate in the past...but insist on trying and re-trying over and over and over....and then take it personally....even after you have explained that you can't do this stuff...to me i think it is a tad insane..but that is a sort of neurotypicality...

Not that I think that all neurotypical behavior is insane..it can just result in lots of crossed wires at times..



Humphrie4
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14 Dec 2009, 5:57 pm

Asperger, the Austrian Pediatrician who came up with the idea of Asperger's syndrome believed that everyone had a degree of autism. That was kind of the whole point of his diagnosis was that people with high functioning autism were seen as having only comparitively mild autistic traits compared to others with more severe autism and therefore classified as having AS rather than autism. I agree; I believe that no-one is one hundred percent neurotypical. Everyone will be at the very least 1% AS or if not that then perhaps 1% schizophrenic or 1% bipolar or a mixture of these. It is just that only when the condition is severe enough that a person maybe classified. Different combinations of these can explain the quirks in everyones behaviour and can explain why we are all so unique. So I do not believe anyone is completely and utterly neurotypical but some people can come close :)