You would think....

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You would think with a lifetime of being in private school for kids with autism, up to 17 years old, I would have heard a lot of talk amongst classmates about NT's. NT's this and NT's that. But nope, never remember encountering it before seeing it said so much on the internet. I have heard "others" and "they" plenty of times in real life but not "NT's" that I recall. Any thoughts?

It's probably because "neurotypical" is a relatively scientific term. I believe, if you were around politically-oriented autistic teenagers, that you would hear the term more often.

Just like anybody else, relatively high-functioning autistic people want to set themselves apart, sometimes in an "us versus them" life viewpoint. "Those NT's" serves that purpose really well.

"Neurotypical" really pretty much of a misnomer, if you ask me. Neurotypical people run the gamut--from the extremely quiet, to the loudly boisterous. I think you've noticed that autistic people run the gamut as well.

I agree with Kraftie.

This might seem like a silly question, but do you think most of the kids you are around see themselves as different and attribute their differences to being on the spectrum?

This is such a damaging attitude, for autistics or anyone else. I know I haven't always been innocent of that myself, but if you think about it directly, it's a horrible point of view that only serves to cause troubles. Differences are one thing, "us and them" is another in my opinion.

It may be damaging, but I believe people try to identify similar and different and this does result in creation of groupings that include and exclude.

If we see it and knowledge it we can do more toward being accepting and if we pretend this doesn't happen.

I suppose so. Probably like the deaf community does. (several deaf and nonverbal signers at school). Or the ID community or CP community. We all tend to cross paths during therapies and certain events.

There are times when autistic people, and CP people, and people with various types of disabilities, feel like people without disabilities think low of them. Obviously, people with disabilities are people, too, and KNOW when somebody is putting them down. Sometimes, that's the reason why people with disabilities want to set themselves apart from people without disabilities. It really is a bad feeling to feel like people look down on you.

However, people, in general, should really fight the impulse to set themselves apart from others. I feel this just might be one of the primary causes of failure--because people create a self-fulfilling prophecy for themselves. That prophecy involves, largely, the inevitability of failure.

Why try hard--if I'm going to be a failure anyway? Why better yourself? What's the use?--so says the person who creates a self-fulfilling prophecy for him/herself.

...ID = ? CP = ?




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I suppose so. Probably like the deaf community does. (several deaf and nonverbal signers at school). Or the ID community or CP community. We all tend to cross paths during therapies and certain events.[/quote]

CP = Cerebral Palsy. ID = Intellectual Disability.

...Thank you , I think I vaguely?? thought both anyway .

Sorry about that. I hate it when others do acronyms I don't get.

The internet is known for having a whole different lingo, as opposed to terms people use in real life. It's common for women online to refer to their husbands as 'DH' (Dear Husband) - whereas no one says that in real life. People don't call their acquaintances 'followers' in real life either.

So I think it's a fairly normal phenomenon, for terms to be understood by the online community, but not elsewhere.

I've only heard the term NT used in real life by one person in my social skills group. A lot of people didn't know what it meant, so she had to explain it. It hasn't caught on. Most people there actually say "normal people".

This, is the first place I heard it to, but Allistic works as well.

I'll speak for myself here.

Growing up, I knew I was different. I stayed away from most people; was alone most of the time. Loud noises made me jump out of my skin. I couldn't relate to people's fashions, behaviours, attitudes, etc. They saw me as a weirdo but I was in my own little world. While other people were out having sex or whatever I was deep into invention and research. I read anything and everything I could get my hands on and collected things from subway maps to euphemisms for "said" and "walked" to be used in my writing. Tried to learn Latvian. Started reading the Cambridge Unabridged Dictionary from cover to cover but stopped about 3/4th of the way because I discovered electronics and the guitar. While everyone was walking this way, I was walking that way. It's no surprise I only had sex once in my life, when I was 37 - 16 years ago, and it was with a guy. I rocked incessantly when I was a kid; these days I tap my feet often which, I've been told, irritates people. Because it's near impossible for me to make and keep friends, I don't even bother anymore, especially since I'm very prone to saying off-the-wall things that makes people disappear anyway. I'll certainly go to my grave as a homeless, jobless, childless individual.

Later on, lo and behold, I discovered all of these differences had a name - autism, and I didn't know that till I was 49. I suspect a lot of people aren't aware that there is a term for such behavior which, to me, don't seem odd at all. All I knew was I was a misfit - and still am.

If "others" and "they" refer to the people outside their autism group, then it is the same idea of dividing self or own group from another.