Is ADD Neurotypical

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My Inattentive ADD significantly affects my functioning level.It was just a few years ago that I found out there was a neurological reason for my lifelong difficulties. I see "NT" as a culturally generated word and not a medical one so there can always be disagreements about what it means.

This might require an answer to the question, "Would having Depression/Bipolar/Schizophrenia/Anxiety/etc... (other disorders) also make someone not neurotypical?"

In the same sense as all of those, they can all impair functioning like ADD/ADHD would. Yet there's medication given towards all of that. In addition, if that's the case, then there's a much, much larger percentage of non-neurotypicals than it seems. I think there was a study where 1 in 4 had some kind of mental illness. A lot could have it mildly, and many have it masked well with adaption and/or medication. But if anything, that just states the obvious that everyone's minds work differently.

Autism and Asperger's seems like a different class completely. If anything, it sounds ambiguous. Like a Venn Diagram, ADD/ADHD would be in the middle.

... What's the opposite term for "Neurotypical"?

It depends on how you define neurotypical. It could mean someone who's not autistic, in which case pure ADD would be considered neurotypical. Or it could mean someone who does not have any neurological condition, in which case ADD is not neurotypical.

I didn't know giftedness isn't NT. My 16 year old cousin is NT, and he is really clever at everything, except spelling. He got A stars in all of his exams, even English, despite his poor spelling. He took time to focus on his revision each night. But he is NT - please don't say he's on the spectrum because he's not. I know my cousin more than you do, I see him every day.

And what about mental retardation? Don't tell me that's NT.
When I volunteered at a club for young adults with special needs, there was a 19 year old lad in a wheelchair, and all he could say was ''hiya!''. He couldn't read, or write, or count, or even draw - all he could do was play with toys, and he was even in nappies (I once had to take him to his parents when he was at this club, to change his nappy). He needed 24-hour care, and was just so unintelligent in every single thing that he couldn't do anything for himself. He babbled excitedly and clapped his hands when people in the street smiled to him, and when he said ''hiya!'' to people, some used to say ''hello'' or ''hiya'' back, and he used to dribble and squeal happily, but some used to snigger at him, in which he didn't care because he didn't know what sniggering was. He was permanently in a wheelchair, because he was too ''ret*d'' to learn himself to walk.
That isn't NT, is it?

LOL. This thread is sooooo AS.

How many ways can we split the NT hair?

ADD isn't neurotypical. If you have a form of "mental difference", as others probably call it, you aren't NT. I have an emotional disturbance (but I still think I have Asperger's), and I probably wouldn't be considered NT.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurotypical

That's exactly the way I would describe NT.

I have met ADDers who in some way seem on the surface to be somewhat more neurotypical seeming..than (me) for example...Functional up to par with others of their peer group...able to drive...go to school...Do well at their jobs...don't have sensory issues or difficulties dealing with other people.
THese are people I med who had been on ADD meds since childhood...and such..I have met some truely intense hyperactive types with an ADD diagnosis..and I met one lady who had been diagnosed as having ADD AT the Amen clinic..and she was much more on par with what I would consider to be a female with AS...moreso than me, in fact, but (alas) as most people seem to be....more "functional"

I am "assessed" as having Asperger's...an AS specialist gave me her opinion that I had it, but it does not count as an actual diagnosis.

I am treated for ADD..I guess that means I am diagnosed with it...not sure, to be honest..THat was done with a simple interview as well...I scored a 70 on a questionnaire, that I woulda needed to score a 20 on to "qualify"

I have traits of both...I am an ASish person who is wired to desperately WANT to multitask..or an ADDer with moderate to severe sensory and social issues and a vulnerability to obsessions..

I think that one can have neurological differences (everybody has them)..and at least SEEM for all practical purposes "NT"...there are people who are able to SEEM normal and do all the things that everyone else is able to do..BUT...they might have something like Borderline personality disorder...(I have seen this in several people who try to pass for NT)..but maybe BPD is not a PDD...
I think of my sister as being NT, and she has BPD symptoms...I think of her as being NT, because she did not grow up with the kinds of developmental issues that I had..I had self-care troubles, and um..just a bunch of difficulties with other stuff that people around me didn't have...she did not have Pervasive Developmental Difficulties...she was more of a "smoothly running machine" of a human being than I ever was....no dyspraxia...no depth perception difficulties...no peer-bonding issues...etc...but that does not mean that she is 100% Neurologically "normal"

It is very hard for me to "seem" normal...maybe if I had worked quite hard at it over the course of my life..and had assistance in fostering the importance of assimilation drilled into me in a way that would convince me to prioritize it...and tips on how to do it...I would be able to...but now I am a 35 year old (kid)....and a bit set in my ways...

Well, at least AS people know what they have for sure.

In my case, I would call my illness sort of bipolar but more like mood swings that last from a few minutes to a few days with delusions, sensory problems and panic attacks during the mood swings, sub-ADHD inattentiveness with more symptoms of ADHD as a child, and AS-like special interests and some social skills problems with no impairment of social cues, more AS-like as a child with almost daily meltdowns.

An AS guy once told me I was the weirdest person he ever met. I tell NTs that and they say he only said that because he had bad social skills, but if I ask if it was true they change the subject.

I have also told people in the past before I even heard of AS that I'm not a human, I feel like I'm from somewhere else

Even before I saw your sig, I was thinking 'maybe you have schizoaffective disorder and maybe AS at the same time'.

I don't think of ADHD as NT. Even though most ADHD symptoms are very different to mine (especially the hyperactive kind - those people seem like my opposites; the inattentive kind I can relate more to, due to my low energy levels and depression, which can make me spaced out).

Many people with neurodiverse conditions have symptoms that are nothing like the AS stereotype. I can relate to people with dyslexia because they think differently, although I don't think anything like them - they think so differently to normal, I can relate to the lack of normality. I have dyspraxia but not symptoms of dyslexia. I think like a 'typical' dyspraxic (intensely, rigidly, categorically - very similar to the AS stereotype) compared to my dyslexic friend who thinks really laterally, visually and holistically (even though that's only a dyslexic stereotype). We're both neurodiverse and we're completely different. My friend with AS also has dyslexia and is a visual thinker, whereas I really am not. I know dyspraxic people who have dyslexia and AS symptoms as well, who can also think creatively.

I almost envy it. I'd give up being able to spell if I could have a photographic memory. Standard English is dying, anyway

I don't know enough about the way ADHD people stereotypically think to be able to make a really informed opinion on whether it's NT, or not. I don't think it is. If the degree of variance from 'normal' is as big as dyslexia, then it's neurodiverse. I've met some people with ADHD who seem to think more or less normally but just have attention or hyperactivity issues. They seem to fit in much better than someone like me or my magnificently spacey dyslexic friend would. I don't know, they might actually think really, really differently to 'normal' though - despite blending in with normal people.

I spend a lot of time on a forum for ADHDers (since I have it) and I would say that the spectrum runs from people who seem very NT to people who seem very neuroatypical. ADHD itself is definitely neuroatypical as ADHD brains do not actually function like neurotypical brains, and the disorder itself stems from developmental delays in various parts of the brain that cause impulsiveness, inattention, and hyperactivity.

I think one point for ADHDers is that it is apparently a performance disorder, in which you know what to do, but can't always do what you know. That the parts of your brain that connect intention to planning and thus action are impaired, making it difficult to do what you need to do when you need to do it, and very easy to be distracted into doing other, more rewarding, things. ADHDers also sometimes have trouble taking things like future consequences into account while doing something right now. Immediacy matters a lot more than long term, and time sense is generally impaired - it's hard to plan for the future when the future's all fuzzy and indistinct until it's right in your face, you know?

With what I know about how ADHD affects the brain, I don't see how it could possibly be neurotypical.

Well, I personally am with the people who say ADD means your brain functions different than normal, which means, no, not neurotypical.

As far as from the perspective of NT = not on the autism spectrum, honestly, I don't think there's a simple answer. It depends in part, on whether "on the spectrum" means diagnosable, or just distinctly having traits. Some people with ADD aren't on the spectrum, some are, and some it depends on how you define the spectrum.

I kind of agree. To me the more socially awkward or 'delayed' you are the less NT you are. NT was first used by the autistic community so I see it as our word to choose who we put it on.

I've often wondered whether ADHD is NT or non-NT. Many people with ADHD can socialise ok, they are a lot more successfully with jobs and families. Of course they have their problems still but they don't have many if any autistic symptoms.

There's also only one area associated with ADHD, while many other areas of the brain are affected in autism. Of course because this one area is faulty many other areas don't work as well as they should too.

I feel extremely different to non-autistics, even sometimes people with AS. I don't get them. I'm constantly confused and either getting annoyed at them. I get in disagreements with them constantly. People with ADHD have friendships and don't always see other people in that way.
Of course there some with ADHD that have many autistic traits, may even have it co-morbid.

Dyslexia is a brain disorder which is similar to AS but there's actually an over activity in the frontal lobes, quite the opposite to AS.

Anyway, that is my opinion on it. The less 'normal' you seem to people the more of an non-NT you are. The more social you are, the more NT you are.

The people I know with ADHD just seem more NT than me or a lot of people on this forum. My mum is suspected ADHD and she can't get it through her head that I can't just go out and have a good time. There are many barriers in the way.

I have ADHD co-morbid. For me it is just an executive dysfunction. I have nearly no short term memory, hard to motivate myself, either too many neurotransmitters firing or not enough. But my autism makes me routined, organised, rigid, stimmy, and is just a whole lot harder to deal with than ADHD. It definitely affects the way I interact with others and my overall behaviour. I'm not sure if my SPD is co-morbid or just a part of autism too.

But many people's definition of NT SPD would mean non-NT too. But you can have that and not have anything like autism or ADHD. My sister also has synesthesia but is the epitome of NT. So I don't like the default definition.

I believe I have AS and can identify symptoms and behaviors that are AS, and symptoms and behaviors that are ADHD, but I am not sure I can separate things enough to know which is causing me the most trouble.

I like the point about social awkwardness/delayed (and perhaps "not fitting in" with other people?) in relation to being less NT. I think this is true of some ADHDers, but who knows how many of them have undiagnosed AS or PDD-NOS or have autistic traits without being autistic?

I like this better than "your brain works differently" because the latter doesn't always mean you'll socialize differently or seem weird to NTs.

Oh, and here I was thinking I was being far too rigid in my thinking.

Somehow I can separate my autistic symptoms and my ADHD ones.
To me autism/AS is the primary disorder and ADHD is always co-morbid.
There I go being rigid again...