Why do so many of you call everyone "NT's"

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Trogluddite
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21 Nov 2017, 10:54 am

I have to be honest - laziness (in both the reasoning and the writing.)

I am certainly aware that the word does not connotate "person without any problems/impairments/..." - in my "NT life" pre-diagnosis, I suffered plenty of mental illness, and know many other people who do, so that is very clear. However, when I stop to think, I realise that usually I really mean something more like "people who don't experience the trait or behaviour that I'm talking about" (and the trait itself may not have a neurological cause for some people who do experience it.) And with all of those traits it is a matter of degree, not all-or-nothing.

So yes, it is a label that is used very lazily, and I'm as guilty as anybody. All of Ezra's recent posts regarding this "NT/ASD question" have been very insightful and have made me question my own habit of drawing lines between people of differing abilities. The temptation to just "[SHIFT][n][t]" when scribbling out a post is strong though, and I have no doubt I will slip up again, so it is good to be "kept honest" by being reminded once in a while.


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kraftiekortie
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21 Nov 2017, 10:58 am

There are people who are "neuro-typical." Some are nice; others are not so nice.

We can't deny their existence. But....they shouldn't deny OUR existence, either.

To bridge the gap between between autistic people and people who are not autistic, it's necessary to find common ground, rather than to find separation. Yes, what I'm saying is obvious.



TUAndrew
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21 Nov 2017, 11:01 am

There's nothing wrong with complaining about NTs, just as long as the person complaining understands that NT's are also individuals and are NOT a giant hive-mind out to get us.

I've found that people who universally complain about NTs tend to have not met many (or any) autistic people offline. As otherwise they'll know that us aspies can be just as annoying as NTs :)



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21 Nov 2017, 11:15 am

Before discovering I was autistic,
I thought of myself as eccentric, geeky, a computer nerd, a "Star Trek fan with an imagination."
Other people would call me "weird" or "brainiac" or "gifted."

When I was active with the Society for Creative Anachronism, and in Star Trek clubs,
those of us in the group referred to people outside the group as "mundanes" ...
to define it with an example:
Going to Burger King and ordering a cheeseburger
while dressed in your medieval garb was called "freaking the mundanes"
with the assumption that most normal people would consider us weird
for being nonconformists and having fun.

Okay, so now instead of eccentric vs. mundane,
it's Aspie vs. NT.

And despite that, my grandma was the most NT you could get ...
and that said, we had an awesome relationship! :heart:

So for me, personally, EzraS,
I've always noticed a difference between myself and the majority of people.
I have an imagination that most people don't understand when I put it into practice in public.
So that's what I mean when I call others NT.

Now, I have a better term for myself which is more socially acceptable:
Artist. 8)



kraftiekortie
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21 Nov 2017, 12:29 pm

I have come to believe that everybody has "something."

Some sort of "mental illness"

Some sort of "personality disorder."

Some sort of "neurosis"

Some sort of "OCD."

Whatever.

I don't believe there is really a "normal" person.

Whether one actually has a "disorder," is a matter of degrees, really.



Last edited by kraftiekortie on 21 Nov 2017, 12:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

kicker
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21 Nov 2017, 12:34 pm

@ezras

Usually when you ask a question regarding a behavior and don’t get a concise answer it’s because the behavior is emotionally driven. As is the case with the bandwagon against “NT”.

When you see these bandwagons, referring to any post that has a bunch of people referencing a similar situation or sharing in an unreasonably assessment such as “NTs are...” or “They are trying to do some evil against autistics”, it’s empathy and emotionally driven and probably has very little if any basis in reality or an objective perspective.

So the other day when you said something along the lines that many here are more similar to “NTs” then they are to autistics you pretty much hit right at the heart of the answer to your question here.



the_phoenix
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21 Nov 2017, 12:45 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:
I have come to believe that everybody has "something."

Some sort of "mental illness"

Some sort of "personality disorder."

Some sort of "neurosis"

Some sort of "OCD."

Whatever.

I don't believe there is really a "normal" person.

Whether one actually has a "disorder," is a matter of degrees, really.


Ah, now here's where I somewhat disagree with you, my friend. 8)

Back when I was studying the Meyers-Briggs Temperament Indicator stuff to try and figure out why I didn't fit in, I came across a forum in which someone had posted this:

Jesus had all of the strengths of all of the personality types,
and none of the weaknesses. 8)

A Catholic could argue the same for Mary,
while saying that yes, she's still a mere mortal
but was especially gifted by God.

But yeah, for the vast majority of us mere mortals,
99.9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 %,
the very nature of being human means
each one of us has at least one weakness.



kraftiekortie
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21 Nov 2017, 12:52 pm

The thing is: we don't know what Jesus was like between the ages of about 12 and 30.......



the_phoenix
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21 Nov 2017, 12:56 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:
The thing is: we don't know what Jesus was like between the ages of about 12 and 30.......


The weirdest joking reply just came to my mind,
but methinks I'll spare you because this isn't the politics section of the forum. :P



kraftiekortie
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21 Nov 2017, 12:58 pm

I'm all ears.....



the_phoenix
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21 Nov 2017, 1:03 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:
I'm all ears.....


Well yeah, you are, but the moderators may not appreciate my shifting the original topic of this thread in an Autism Discussion section of the forum. I can always send you a PM ... :)

... and that said, to get this thread back on track,
I have wondered once in awhile whether
Jesus would be classed as an NT, or
did He have any traits that could be called autistic?



kraftiekortie
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21 Nov 2017, 1:10 pm

He certainly didn't have "nonverbal learning disability." He wasn't stereotypically "Aspie klutzy" (I am "stereotypically Aspie klutzy" LOL). He was a carpenter, after all, and was able to climb up those hills and give those speeches.

I don't really see autism traits in Him. He was an "NT idealist," so to speak.



naturalplastic
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21 Nov 2017, 2:06 pm

I kinda get what Ezra is trying to say. He grew up surrounded by other autistics in segregated-by-autism schools. And he saw at least as much nastiness by autistics against other autistics as he saw that by NTs against autistics. And he also probably grew up seeing NTs being nice to autistics when other autistics were not. So he doesn't relate to the scapegoating of NTs that is kind of endemic on WP.

And I agree that NT-bashing, though a necessary evil to a point on an autism site, does go a little too far.

But I still use the term "NT" as a handy term for all non autistics, or for all nonautistics plus non ADHDers.



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21 Nov 2017, 2:36 pm

Like with any term it the depends on the context in which it is being used. If I said "I hate that NT's are superficial" I am comparing them negatively to autistic people, an us vs them context. If I said "NT's use non verbal language more than autistics and it causes me trouble" that statement is based on the current understanding of the differences.


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21 Nov 2017, 3:07 pm

Well many Aspies get offended when you call NTs "normal". I could say "allistic", but not all non-autistics are NT, as there are other neurological conditions besides autism that can make a person different/mentally challenged compared to peers.


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21 Nov 2017, 3:47 pm

I know I can only take so much of the NT world. When it's draining, it's natural to say you need a break.