A question for all the NT posters.

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So I have a friend, good friend since I started high school, he's always known I was wired differently to other people but I on;y really started to talk about it recently. Anyway, when we were talking I used the terms that are tossed around on WP, those being "aspie" for me and "NT" for him and everyone else. My question is, do any of you NT's take any sort of offence from being "labelled" as my friend put it by us aspies? We're in the middle of an argument right now and your responses are going to be important.

First of all, Im not NT. But I have friends whom I have revealed to. And I would make references such as, "you normal people". No ones ever taken offense as far as I know.

Yeah, in this case I told him that that's like calling black people African Americans for the sake of political correctness when in reality the nickname is much preferred by both groups. Still he takes offence and I for one am totally confused, especially when I'm calling him normal.

It bothers me when I am told I am an NT because I don't have an ASD while at the same time I suffer from a myriad of other problems that would certainly count me being quite unusual, to the extent that I could have a personality disorder.
Or, in short, I'm told I'm NT but I certainly don't feel normal - hell I've been manic, psychotic, hallucinated, delusional, catatonic, depression, anxiety, insomnia, hypersomnia, parkinsonism, I dare say there are aspies who are a lot more "NT" then I am - and yet the term is thrown around fairly easilly.


So yes I am offended when someone automatically calls me an NT when I tell them I don't have an ASD, but it shouldn't bother people who are genuinely normal.

Also another Aspie, but I use phrases like, "you normal people," or "NTs are different" all the time and not one of my friends has said anything or even seemed slightly offended.

The average NT has no idea what "NT" means.



You didn't casually call him "normal" though, you applied what is the psychiatric version of an ethnicl group to him that he never knew he was a part of.

But NT refers to those not on the autistic spectrum. If you're not on the spectrum that doesn't mean you don't have your own problems, just that autism etc. originates from different circumstances than other personality disorders. besides, my friend has no diagnosed disorders.

I know the textbook definition of NT is "Not on the Autism Spectrum", but that isn't how you meant it - you've explicitly said you were calling him "normal" and I don't think that's how most people mean it when they use with less thought.

In practice NT means normies, and I'd rather everyone switched to that definition since "the non disabled" is too long.

Normal people label others all the time but the moment there is a label for them they hate it. Why is that? Is it because they know that somewhere down inside when they label people there is something negative implied in the NT world?

I still don't get who is chosen as normal. Someone who doesn't fit any diagnostic psychiatric condition? If that is the case, everyone is not normal. That means everyone belongs in the neurodiversity camp.

I haven't met a single person who has not fit into a psychiatric label. Depressed? Attention seeker? Shy? Aloof? Lack theory of mind? Lack empathy?

All of this focus on those who are supposedly abnormal. Where is the examination of normal people? What makes them tick? Who are these normal people and what makes them normal?

If it means those who are able to just up and leave their trails of personalities behind to suit what is currently fashionable within tv personalities then no thank you. I hope that is not the case.

I didn't straight up call him normal, I used it in my explanation of the term(possibly a faux pas on my part, so sorry, but he is pretty normal next to me). And honestly I'd prefer that we didn't call ourselves "aspies" I much prefer the sound of an acronym... But that's beside the point, he didn't like being labelled as separate from aspies which I find infinitely confusing.

Normies is the pet name sociopaths use for NTs... it's a bit demeaning in tone.
NT is just a way of not having to say "non-autistic", which is long and strange-sounding.
I have no idea why your friend took offense, OP, he might just have to adjust to the fact that he belongs in a category? the category of normal people? No idea....strange reaction....

When I say he isn't diagnosed with anything that does not mean he isn't weird in himself. Heh, it's funny, the first time I met him I punched him in the face for picking on me. best friends ever since. but yeah, it is a strange reaction but pretty typical of him I think.

Okay next time instead of NT since it is offensive

Replace NT with

People who don't fit the criteria for....


Acute stress disorder
Adjustment disorder
Adolescent antisocial behavior
Adult antisocial behavior
Adverse effects of medication-not otherwise specified
Age-related cognitive decline
Agoraphobia
Alcohol-related disorder
Alzheimer's
Amnestic disorder
Amphetamine (or amphetamine-like)-related disorder



Anorexia nervosa
Antisocial personality disorder
Anxiety disorder
Anxiolytic-related disorder
Asperger syndrome
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Atypical autism
Autistic disorder
Autophagia
Avoidant personality disorder


Bereavement
Bibliomania
Binge eating disorder
Bipolar disorder
Body dysmorphic disorder



Borderline intellectual functioning
Borderline personality disorder
Breathing-related sleep disorder
Brief psychotic disorder
Bulimia nervosa



Caffeine-related disorder
Cannabis-related disorder
Catatonic disorder
Catatonic Schizophrenia
Childhood antisocial behavior
Childhood Disintegrative Disorder
Chronic motor or vocal tic disorder



Circadian rhythm sleep disorder
Clinical Depression
Cocaine-related disorder
Cognitive disorder
Communication disorder
Conduct disorder
Conversion disorder


Depersonalization Disorder
Derealization Disorder

Eating disorder not otherwise specified
Echolalia
Echopraxia



Encopresis
Enuresis (not due to a general medical condition)
Exhibitionism
Expressive language disorder



Factitious disorder
Fregoli delusion


Ganser syndrome
Gender identity disorder



Generalized anxiety disorder
General adaptation syndrome



Hallucinogen-related disorder
Histrionic personality disorder
Huntington's disease



Hypomanic episode
Hypochondria Disorder



Impulse control disorder
Impulse-control disorder not elsewhere classified
Inhalant-related disorder



Insomnia due to a general medical condition
Intermittent explosive disorder



Joubert syndrome



Kleptomania



Learning disorders



Major depressive disorder
Major depressive episode
Male erectile disorder
Malingering
Manic episode
Mathematics disorder
Medication-related disorder
Megalomania
Melancholia



Mental retardation
Mixed episode
Mixed receptive-expressive language disorder
Mood disorder
Mood episode
Motor skills disorder
Munchausen's syndrome
Munchausen's syndrome by proxy
Multi-Personality Disorder (better known as Dissociative Identity Disorder)



Narcissistic personality disorder
Narcolepsy
Neglect of child



Neuroleptic-related disorder
Nicotine-related disorder
Nightmare disorder



Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD)
Occupational problem



Oneirophrenia
Opioid-related disorder
Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)



Pain disorder
Panic disorder
Paranoid personality disorder
Parasomnia
Parent-child relational problem
Partner relational problem
Pathological gambling
Perfectionism
Personality change due to a general medical condition
Personality disorder
Pervasive developmental disorder (PDD)
Phase of life problem
Phencyclidine (or phencyclidine-like)-related disorder



Phonological disorder
Physical abuse
Pica
Polysubstance-related disorder
Post-traumatic embitterment disorder (PTED)
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Premature ejaculation
Primary hypersomnia
Primary insomnia
Psychological factor affecting medical condition
Psychotic disorder
Pyromania


Reactive Attachment Disorder of infancy or early childhood
Reading disorder
Relational disorder



Residual schizophrenia
Rett's disorder
Rumination syndrome



Schizoaffective disorder
Schizoid personality disorder
Schizophrenia
Schizophreniform disorder
Schizotypal personality disorder
Sedative-, hypnotic-, or anxiolytic-related disorder
Selective mutism
Separation anxiety disorder
Severe mental retardation
Shared psychotic disorder



Sleep disorder
Sleep terror disorder
Sleepwalking disorder
Somatization disorder
Somatoform disorder
Stereotypic movement disorder
Stuttering
Substance-related disorder

Tardive dyskinesia
Tic disorder
Tourette's syndrome



Transient tic disorder
Trichotillomania

Hehe, I like this a lot, He's definitely going to be reading that, thanks.

This.

The one thing I'd be cautious about is any phrase, referring to any group at all, that uses the words "you people" somewhere in it, whether it's with a label in between the words "you" and "people" or not. I've never heard anything intelligent or uninsulting said when those words are used. I have, however, heard lots of ignorant, nasty things said that way. Call them NTs or don't, but I'd avoid saying "you NTs" if you can. That way, at least the person you're talking to isn't so likely to feel pointed at and expected to identify directly with whatever you're describing. It might take the pressure off and prevent offense from being taken. Then you can discuss the point you're trying to make, because you won't be caught up in an argument about what you called someone.

Just a thought. See if it helps at all.