Is 'NT' offensive? Is 'on the NT spectrum' an option?

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I'm new to this site, so apologies if I'm going over old ground.

Is it offensive to label anyone who is not on the spectrum as 'NT'? It seems like a stereotype that doesn't do justice to our diverse world. As an NT myself I kind of feel like that, but equally I'm thinking that if I was autistic I might also resent being labeled 'autistic' too. Can I describe myself as being 'on the NT spectrum'?

I'm interested to understand. Thanks.

Welcome to WP!
I don't see 'NT' and 'ND' as being offensive. Often on this forum we need to distinguish between those with an Autism Spectrum Disorder or related disorder and those without. This is not as a means of discrimination - it is often necessary for the distinction to be made so that we can better understand what others are talking about and what sort of advice to give etc. It is by no means meant as offensive.

With the 'NT spectrum' thing, the Autism Spectrum encompasses both NDs and NTs - NTs are on one end, and NDs are on the other. It does not really make sense to say that you are on the NT spectrum.
Hope this helps.

I guess it is. I notice an NT spectrum as well. Most NTs are in the middle, but I have met extreme NTs as well. They're weird to deal with because they often notice how odd I am and approach me because of that.

NT/ND spectrum, dimensions, continuum... Those are options too if you feel like it. Because it exists.
I understand what you mean by 'NT spectrum'.
There are quirky NTs, and there are those who conform or rebel, NTs who have more or less phobias, NTs who have mostly good and bad life experiences, NTs with or without talent, NTs within ranges of IQ, then NTs who just so happened to be foreigners or born in a different environment and easily mistook for an ND. NTs all the same without any sort of neurological condition or difference.

It also acknowledges that NTs are a part of human variation -- the majority, then in it itself have dimensions that makes them individuals, what makes them foreign to another...
There is no such thing as one 'true' NT, it's absurd that 'NT' itself defines 'human' or 'healthy' or the 'only "natural" variation'. That's like saying there's only one real skin color or sexuality. Or implying that NTs cannot develop disorders or born with innate disorders or be different or suffer life consequences.

Just 'NT', 'ND', 'whatever play nickname' isn't offensive as long as it's not used in offensive context or a slur.

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Neurotypical is inaccurate because 98 percent of the population can not typical of anything.

I am not offended by the word autistic I identify myself that way.

Be it Autistic or Neurotypical it depends on the intent of the person saying those words. If it is bieng used as a descriptor it is not offensive. If the person saying neurotypical means boring, no positive distingushing features as in he is sooo typical it is meant as an offence. Same thing if the person calling another person autistic is using it in a similar way as ret*d.

"NT" is no more "offensive" than "Goyem", or "Gentile". It was a term invented by aspie individuals in the Nineties to mean folks not on the autism spectrum (like Jews call nonJews Goyem, or Gentile).

I suppose that you could say that the term "neurotypical" is like the term used by folks who are into kinky bondage for folks who are not into that:"vanilla". Like "vanilla" "NT" implies "boring", or "bland". So maybe it is a mild nonserious put down. But its very mild. No one is gonna be offended, or upset by you using it.

Dont see how neurotypical could have a "spectrum".

It depends on context. Sometimes NT is simply used to refer to non-autistic people.

Other times it's used as a pejorative;"those lousy no good @#$% NT's!".

I get offended when people define NTs as 99% of the population, because there are people much more mentally disabled and different than me but aren't on the spectrum, and it just doesn't make sense to class them as neuro-typicals and I'm not, just because I've got a mild ASD.

I KNOW neurotypical is only a word and that it shouldn't matter if I'm classed as 'normal' or not, but it's more a matter of principle that offends me.

Slightly off-topic but I feel it's necessary to cover this point:

It's not offensive. What it really means is having the typical brain wiring, which is a medical fact shown in scans and not anyone's opinion.
Here it will often be used to mean not on the autism spectrum. As this site primarily deals with issues about ASDs, it makes sense to some of us (and certainly to me) to make the difference between NT and aspies. What a person might have that isn't on the autism spectrum is kind of irrelevant to what is discussed here.

This is much in the same way as someone who feels like they are their biological gender will be called cisgendered by trans people, and it won't matter about the natural fluidity within a gender, because that doesn't make a person part of their group, and you need clear identity for those discussions. Cisgendered is not a term that is much on the mind of people who identify with their biological sex, and likewise NT is not a term is on the mind of NTs. Just like I don't see myself as someone who identifies with being female, I just see myself as a somewhat atypical female (or as I like to say, "I'm female MY way"); and an NT doesn't think of themselves as someone who has a typical brain wiring.
It's the outsider group that thinks in that way because they were never part of the majority in this way or that.


NT isn't a pejorative, but obviously any word can be used as such if one is so inclined or in a bad mood.

Calling someone a goy is usually offensive, a gentile somewhat less so, but it could be offensive.

My mother is Jewish.