Fleur and Phoebe The term neurotypical describes anyone whose brain is functioning at a level that is considered ‘typical’ of healthy people. While the term is often used in a derogatory manner, it serves an important purpose: it provides a standard by which people can be judged.
What is a neurotypical brain?
The definition of neurotypical is a bit vague, but it is generally accepted that a neurotypical brain is one that has a normal range of cognitive abilities.
Neurotypical is a word used to describe the majority of people who do not have autism. The word neurotypical is a moniker consisting of a prefix “neuro-” and a suffix “-typical” that means “relating to the brain, the brain, or typical of a given group or category.” The word neurotypical comes from the Latin word “neuron,” which means “nerve,” “nerve cell,” “nerve fiber,” or “nerve fiber bundle,” and thus, it is an adjective describing those who do not have autism.
A neurotypical is someone who has a cerebral cortex functioning like a non-neurotypical. The way non-neurotypicals look at the world is different from how neurotypicals look at the world. Non-neurotypicals have different expectations of people, places, and things. Non-neurotypicals are used to the world working in an expected and certain way, and they expect the same kind of behaviors from others.
What are “neurotypical standards”?
Neurotypical is a term used to describe how someone perceives the world. Neurotypical is a term used to describe how someone perceives the world. This means that if you are neurotypical, you are a person who sees the world differently than someone with autism (or autism spectrum disorder). These differences can be very small or very big, and we all have them.
Why these standards aren’t okay:
The neurotypical standard is the idea that we should all act according to the same expectations when interacting with others, usually developed by neurotypical people. This standard is not fair because neurotypical people do not carry the burden of being different. This burden causes neurotypical people to constantly go through life doubting their own abilities and convinces them to avoid certain situations where they might need help. This burden also creates the ideology that neurotypical people are superior to all people with Asperger’s and that neurotypical people should be the only ones to join jobs requiring high social interaction. NT standards are widely used as a means of discrimination against autistic people.
“Neurotypical standards are intolerable, and they are the reason I do not have the privilege of being seen as a neurotypical person in society. Neurotypical standards are not okay. I was born with Autism, and they are why I am unable to be seen and accepted as a neurotypical person. Neurotypical standards are the reason I cannot walk down a street holding hands with my boyfriend, the reason I feel unsafe in a restaurant, or the reason I cry if friends tell me they dislike The Lord of the Rings. If it is okay to ostracize and discriminate against an entire group of people, then it is not okay to ostracize and discriminate against a single person who is a part of that group.”
Many neurotypical people are not okay with some of the neurotypical standards that they live by. They do not like the fact that they have to be neurotypical, and they do not like that they have to live by neurotypical standards. They wish they were different, and they wish that other people were different. But the truth is, they are just normal humans. They are not okay with things like that. They are neurotypical, but they are okay with being neurotypical.
Most neurotypical people are actually neuroatypical they have a brain functioning in a different way to the rest of the neurotypical population. The brain is highly complex, so everyone can’t have the same brain. There is also a wide spectrum of neurotypicality, with some neuroatypical people having brains so atypical that they would fall into the neurotypical category.
“I have never been a neurotypical person, but eventually, I came to realize that neurotypical standards were not okay. The problem is that neurotypical standards are ‘normal,’ and every neurotypical person expects their neurotypical standards to be normal. If these standards do not suit all neurotypicals, then the neurotypical standards are not normal.”
