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Ok - technically - is someone with ADD/ADHD a NT? My favorite person to be around has ADD and I was just curious what you guys think . . .

I have AS, but I was diagnosed with ADHD before they figured out that I actually had AS (my mom went to meetings for adhd parents and she said that the parents described their children, and my mom thought "these kids aren't anything like alex").

Oh yeah - someone thought I had ADD on Aspergia when I was describing my love of creating and how I don't feel like a real person unless I'm creating something - but being around this guy - he is the textbook definition of ADD and that isn't me! I'm glad they figured out it wasn't you, though, early - some of those medications have some pretty nasty side effects . . .

Hi Animallover

It depends how he/she would like to view it. If you see the term NT in black and white, in reference to not being like the majority of other humans with brains [I think some don't occasionally], he might think himself a "non-nt". Though, maybe he is the neurotypical epitome of many people with ADHD. I am not a NT Aspie as my ability to perform mental arithmetic is poor. Or indeed, can anyone of any denomination be neurotypical, afterall none of us perceive our surroundings in the same manner. For these reasons, the term is quite subjective.

Please, excuse my rambling!

I still take those kinds of medicines to help me concentrate though. My parents say I benifit from them, but i'd like to stop taking them because of the side effects.

Yeah, you have to balance that - my favorite person to be around - he just got on meds and I was SOOO excited for him - he is so smart and just a great guy that if he can get this under control then he can do anything . . .
Some of the meds I take for my bipolar can be very dangerous - I had to have a full liver work up before I started on one of them, for example - but it is better than not getting out of bed for two weeks or being suicidal all the time . . .
So if they help you concentrate, then you should take them - I just hate to see people put at risk when there are no benefits . . .

I was diagnosed with ADD/ADHD in 1990. But as I said in my introductory post, for a long time afterwards, I always felt that my ADD/ADHD diagnoses didn't answer all the questions I had as to why I was so different from others who had ADD/ADHD. It wasn't until I found out, quite innocently enough about aspergers that all those questions I had were answered. And now I think my ADD/ADHD diagnoses was a mis-diagnoses, not because the doctor who evaluated me was incompentent, he just didn't know about aspergers in 1990 and ended up making the best diagnoses he could with the information he had in front of him.

Like many of the people here, I was diagnosed with ADD before Asperger's syndrome was widely known, technically "Undifferentiated ADD." Indeed, the symptoms of impulsivity (I prefer to call it creativity or spontaneity, though), lack of planning ahead (I prefer to call it going with the flow), inattentiveness, and so on sometimes create more of a nuissance for me than my Asperger's symptoms.

I actually knew a girl who had ADD but definitely not Asperger's syndrome, and she and I seemed to have much in common: learning style, personality style, etc. She couldn't possibly have been an aspie, though, because she had very good social skills, unlike me. Sadly, she's no longer in my life.

I think NT means you're not dx'ed with any differences neurologically. ADD, ADHD, AS, and such wouldn't qualify as NT. I think it's hard to figure out who's NT though, since many things go un-dx'ed.

It seems that sometimes, NT means "neurologically typical - not having any neurological differences (autism, ADD, Tourette, OCD, etc.)", and other times, it means "socially typical - having the same social frame of reference as most people". Many ADDers are neither.

Let me put it this way...

People with ADD no longer think like middle-american, organically grown human...

Ergo they are not NTs...

Both ADD people and aspergs don't feel fear in a normal way... it's disturbing...

Could you explain that?

People with autism are more likely to drown to death than be afraid of a raging river... I know it's a stereotype but it's proven true for many of my friends...

Both people with Autism and ADD are not really afraid of obvious blatant things like thunderstorms, tornadoes and hurricanes... but both of them are afraid of creepy, corrupting things like terrorism and cults...

I'm generalizing I know but most people with autism and ADD I've met are not really afraid of obvious threats... in fact their minds focus better in a thunderstorm or medevac...

But we are both afraid of things that either overload us or threaten to usurp the systems we rely on...

Fear response is a big part of behavioural psychology...

Oh that. Could that be behind the "risk-seeking" trait in Tourette's as well?

I didn't understand about me and fear (I seem to freak out a lot) until I read somewhere about the difference between "afraid of the tiger because it might hurt you" fear and "afraid of the ghost because it is a ghost" fear. I seem to be most afraid of things that can't hurt me but that are just creepy.

Hmm. This is interesting. I tend to be most afraid of things that are statisically more likely to kill me. I'm afraid of dying in a car crash, but it seems to be something that neurotypical people never think about, even though it's one of the main causes of death for young people in this country.
I never worry about terrorism or creepy things. Though I guess I'd worry about terrorism if I was travelling in Indonesia or somewhere where it's more likely to happen.
Not that I'm totally logical or anything, I experience a lot of anxiety that doesn't seem to have any cause.

Now this is very interesting. It does sound like me! My husband freaks out whenever there is nasty weather, possible tornado warnings, etc., calls me on the phone - "get the kids in the basement!" - all that crap. ??? I could never understand him. Of course, I never rushed the kids into the basement. I prefer to look out the window and watch the storms!

Likewise, he'd never give a passing thought to the dangers of nefarious political maneuverings or the insidious influence of warped religious ideas, either....