Would you be neurotypical for a week if you got a chance?

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NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!

Autism made me what I am, so if you suddenly turned me into an NT, I wouldn't be "me" any longer. Therefore, your question is basically asking "if you could be somebody else for a week, would you do it?"

The answer is of course: no. Why would I want to be anybody else? I like being myself!

Just a week? More like forever! I figure turning normal would not go at the cost of my identity, my personality, or my interests. It would just make me more socially intuitive. And that would be both an asset and an opportunity to finally have access to an aspect of the human experience that my autism is precluding me from.

So yeah, a week would be great, but it would also be far too short.

Plenty of NTs have hobbies and interests that they absolutely love and adore. Most scientists and academics that have made a career of their passions. I have friend(s) (acquaintances) who are consumed by their interests and dedicate nearly all their free time on it, and they are definitely not on the spectrum.

Last edited by Acedia on 07 Feb 2014, 5:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Here an idea that no one has brought up on this topic yet. What if you where born blind and all your life, you herd words like "light" and "color". More then likely, you assigned some kind of meaning to those word even though you have never seen before. Now lets say that the doctors can do surgery on you to restore your eye sight for just 1 day. Would you take it? Think about it. With that 1 day of being able to see You could finally know what the true meaning of the words "light and "color" are because you are able to truly comprehend what it really is. Now think about being NT for a day. All those social quarks that have eluded you all you life will finally make sense and would dramatically improve your social skills, even long after you go back to your aspie state. So you might ask. If I could have the opportunity to be an NT for just one day, would I take it? You damn right I would. The knowledge and the comprehension gained from such an experience would be immeasurable.

I would like to experience pretty much any state of mind possible at any point in time, so I voted for change no matter I may be right now. If it meant me being autistic for a week, sign me up!

I think that NT's need to experience autism for themselves as well. It would change there perspective on the matter. The problem is, we can't and that leaves us out in the world without a voice.

i probably would. no reason really. just might be interesting to view the world through the eyes of a Nt, but otherwise im not that bothered. i like the way i already am. i like my life, autistic or not.

Yup... I wish I had had the choice to be neuro-typical. It would make my life soooooo much easier. I'd literally do anything to improve my NVLD symptoms. I'd probably feel than i have for ages.

I just thought of something:
What would happen if you went ahead and became an NT for a week and then for some reason life was so much better as an NT but then you would have to go back to a not so good life. In that case wouldn't it be better to not know what you were missing out on?

I don't really think this would be the case for me, but it is not impossible for a person to not want to go back.

Personally, I think I would feel lost as an NT. The world as I know it would be gone and then I would really be an alien, except that I would be just like everyone around me, but I would still be different because their world would be foreign to me. It would also be really weird to not be able to think in pictures.

But as I said before, I think I would take the chance to become an NT for a week just so I could explain autism to NT's and explain NT's to autistics. But I think I might go crazy if I had to give up all the good aspects of autism like being able to construct and test things in my head and my ability to hyper focus for an entire week.

On the other hand, if I could go with out sensory issues for any length of time, even for 30 seconds, I would take the chance no matter the costs.

A recent study shows that autistic brains create more information at rest. There is a 42% increase in average resting state brain activity.
So to experience being neurotypical, one would have to have a decrease in resting state brain activity.
No. I wouldn't like that.

A week would be too long I think, maybe it would be interesting for a couple of hours or a day at most, and only if NT wasn't the only setting on the magic device that enables such a transformation. I'd like to try out other 'states' too.

NTs aren't the only flavour of human that need to be better understood.

Yeah, and a switch on the magic device so you can switch right back if the experience is too freaky.

Yeah. I'd do a better job helping them if I knew what it was like firsthand, so I'd gladly do it.

By the way, once we understand more about the brain, we might be able to use transcranial magnetic stimulation to do some things like this. Basically, it's a technology that allows you to turn off a part of your brain while it's turned on.

I'd rather give an NT the option of seeing what it's like in a mind like mine for a week.

I also think that it wouldn't change my core personality. My mother is NT and 'despite' that we have a lot in common. The biggest differences between us is in how we deal with people. If I were NT I think I would likely be very similar to her.

And yeah, a week is far too short time! Considering my age, I'm thinking more half a century, just to be sure.


I'm pretty sure that would be how it would go, but I'd still want to know first hand. At the very least I'd learn what it was like and I would make sure to take notes so I would remember and could benefit from it as much as possible.

I already know what I'm missing out on - that's the problem with me. I am depressed because I feel like I'm trapped inside a bubble looking out at the world and all the people in it and what they're doing. I am very aware and bright about what's going on in the NT world. I observe people all the time, and I can easily imagine how I would be if I was an NT with them. I see youngsters at work chatting away to each other and arranging to meet up outside of work, etc, and I just know that if I was NT, I would most probably be included too, if not with them but with somebody else from work.

That is what makes me feel so downhearted; realising what I am missing out on but too shy or anxious to include myself because of the fear of rejection and humiliation.