Last updated on November 26, 2023
Neuro, the Greek-based root for Neurodiversity, neurology, and neurons, draws attention to the physical nature of the brain and the greater nervous system.
With my doctorate in rhetoric, I get stuck on words and meaning. More accurately, my obsession with precise meaning and clear communication likely guided me towards the degree. Followers of The Autistic Me also know I came to regret the degree, since it isn’t perceived as sufficiently technical. “Rhetoric” comes with its own problems of perceived meaning, even within academic communities.
I was slow to embrace Neurodiverse as a label because we are all neurologically complex and inherently diverse.
Are my “neurons” different? Is my nervous system, including my brain, such an outlier compared to a large sample that I possess a quantifiably atypical neurology?
Yes, I’m being nit-picky. However, the moment we insist on a category label we risk reducing something to the criteria used.
The official, DSM-based, mental health professional assigned label “Autistic” is a category label. It’s a list of observable traits that an individual exhibits while being observed by one of the approved gatekeepers of such labels.
I retained “The Autistic Me” as a social media identity (admitted a “brand”) because it also allows me to remind people that the autistic “me” is only a part of me. There are many “me” identities intertwined and jumbled together. Sometimes I can bracket out the autistic aspects of my identity; at other times, those traits might be central to identity.
Complaining about language is a hobby of mine, as the autism glossary demonstrates.
I dislike Neurodiversity advocates using “neurotypical” for non-autistic individuals. “Neurotypical” is nonsense because typical is a misleading category. Those called out as NTs are the neuro-dominant, the extroverted ableists who imagine they are the “standard” for humanity. I appreciate the frustration with those who insist everyone unlike them is broken and in need of repair.
Many, but thankfully not most, of the social media posts I read that reference NTs use the term as a subtle insult. I understand resenting others. Some are outright bullies. Some refuse to tolerate us, much less accommodate us. Over time, we assume that even if not all NTs are oppressors of the Neurodiverse, most oppressors are not autistic, ADHD, or otherwise part of our community.
Again, I encourage the Neurodiversity movement needs to stop embracing the term “neurotypical” (and NT) because we know, we understand from experience, that no brain is “typical” because no person meets all the criteria for “normal” throughout life.
“Typical” reduces a lot of people. It’s dismissive in its own way. I want to be better than that.
What the heck does “allistic” really mean? It’s a strange word.
Allistic is right there with “cis” (balanced) for heterosexuality in my mind. Are the non-cis people “unbalanced” in some way? That seems an odd concept. I wish we had some better approach to gender and sexual orientation. (I don’t have any great suggestions, either.)
I am not atypical nor am I abnormal.
I’ve written that I dislike neurodivergent because “divergent” and “deviant” were used synonymously in “abnormal psychology” books during the 1960s and 70s.
Autistics are neither a threat nor superior. We’re not deviants. We’re not a divergence from human evolution, either.
The jargon embraced by some autistic self-advocates troubles me because the words and phrases fit too neatly into anti-autistic templates. When we choose words that reflect the status quo, or even the more harmful past, we waste time trying to defend those words.
When we group people in terms of belong or not belonging to one group, that’s too narrow. Which labels should we own? Which labels should we apply to other groups?
Only “queer” comes to mind as a previously derogatory label embraced widely by a community today. The LGBTQ+ community, however, seems to be moving away from queer, so that might not even be a good example. Words (and acronyms) evolve. I am certain other terms have been likewise turned into empowering identities.
Just a rambling discussion I’m having with myself, The Autistic Me.