Tuesday, February 21, 2006
NT, Or Not NT
Originally posted December 2005
I don't use "neurotypical" or "NT" when discussing the non-autistic majority
population. That is by design. Yes, it's a convenient shorthand term for
non-autistic folks, and it's not as cringe-inducing as "normal," but it
suffers from a number of very unfortunate linguistic woes.
The chief problem with the word "neurotypical" is that it abjectly concedes
what ought to be a huge point of contention-that there is such a thing as a
typical human brain. Let's do a thought-exercise here: Imagine what it would
be like if other minorities used such terminology to describe the majority
group. Can you picture Muslims referring to Christians as religion-typical?
Black activists calling whites color-typical? Feminists speaking of men as
gender-typical? Hispanics describing Anglos as language-typical?
The absurdity is obvious in all of these contexts. In today's multicultural
society, the concept of diversity means that there is no standard human
template against which all other groups are measured. Society regularly
exhorts us to celebrate our diversity and to respect others' differences.
Most of us wouldn't dream of asserting that our particular group, whether
racial, religious, or whatever, ought to be described as the "typical"
human.
Unless we're talking about the configuration of our brains. Then everybody
gets a free pass from obeying the usual rules of respect for diversity.
Spouting stereotypes about neurological minorities is lauded as a charitable
act of raising awareness. We are taught to accept, as if it were scientific
fact, the social value judgment that there is only one "normal" type of
brain. Edicts determining how many of us qualify as members of the exalted
"normal" caste are regularly handed down by society's high voodoo priests,
the psychologists, after they ritually slaughter a white bull and examine
the stinking entrails for portents of doom. (Okay, I made that up, but can
you think of a better explanation of where all the bullshit in the DSM-IV
came from?)
This brings me back to what else is wrong with the word "neurotypical."
Notonly does it assume the existence of a typical brain, it also fails to
challenge the authority of the psychologists to define a typical brain in
any way they wish. Because "neurotypical" is generally used to refer to a
person who has no psychological diagnoses, it necessarily accepts as
legitimate the psychologists' use of iagnostic classifications as tools of
social segregation.
Moreover, because "NT" is also used as the opposite of autistic, it
necessarily implies that whatever a typical human being may be, if you
happen to be autistic, then you ain't it! Apparently, in this scheme of
things, a typical human being can be of any race, gender, ethnicity,
religion, height, weight, age, national origin, or thousands of other
natural differences that we take for granted-but we'll all be playing a
jolly game of ice hockey in hell before an autistic person ever gets shown
the same tolerance. In short, autistics who use the terms "neurotypical" and
"NT" are meekly surrendering to second-class citizenship forevermore.
A particularly ominous development in recent months has been the perversion
of the word
"neurodiversity" into "ND," which has been variously defined to mean
neurodiverse, neurodivergent, neurodifferent-in other words, a person who
does not have a typical brain, as classified by the psychologists.
One of the worst offenders in twisting the word to fit the status quo is
DANDA, but others are to blame as well. They have completely missed the
point of neurodiversity and are using the word as just another politically
correct entry in the long and infamous list that begins with "idiot" and
ends with terms like "mentally challenged."
Let's take a look at what the word "neurodiversity" really means. (This
definition comes from Word Spy.)
"The neurodiversity movement is based on the belief that there is no such
thing as normal when it comes to the human mental landscape. The
neurotypical person simply does not exist. Together we display a wide
variety of neurological behaviors and abilities..."
Now go back and read that quote again.
Neurodiversity is a powerful and radical concept that is capable of
transforming our world.
Don't piss it away.
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