Do you think you're neurotypical?

[Whyx]

Quick search didn't show this had been asked before which surprised me.

A lot of neurodivergent (ND) stuff on social media these days. Got me thinking I am definitely ND maybe ADHD. I always think "surely everyone is like that though???" I struggle to comprehend how anyone could think of do things differently to me.

So Mumsnet - do you think you are neurotypical or neurodiverse?

Yabu - neurotypical

Yanbu - neurodiverse

Well, it’s estimated that 40% of the population are ND, and you’d expect the proportion of people responding to this question to be higher.

I have adhd. As did my dad and one of my children

While I have learned coping mechanisms the menopause is unravelling a lot of these

Of this is the kind of thread that attracts ND people, more so than NT who often won't be much interested in joining a thread to say they are NT. ND people have a higher stake here, so there will be a higher percentage respond.

I don't think I've met a neurodiverse person yet who just self diagnosed.
I was diagnosed when I was a child as where my own dc.
I think nowadays there is more information about ND and people see traits in themselves.

Except the op is are you nt.

Not are you nd.

Looking at the votes at the moment it's 68% ND and 32% NT.

If this is the case doesn't this mean ND is NT? As it's NT in the minority? Therefore it's not a disability either it's just a different way of being?

Confused 🤔😕

I think I’m NT but I’m the odd one out in my house as my kids are both ND. I’m a total scatterbrain and struggle to cope with working full time and solo parenting. I think that’s just my personality though.

@Mumofazoo

There are lots of people online who self diagnose

I’m neurodiverse.

I had a childhood filled with stimming and other compulsive behaviors that I learned to suppress on my own because there was no help for academically advanced girls with ASD back then.

I generally pass for neurotypical. I have a good job, a house, and a family. I struggle with certain things but I mostly get by with hyper-organization and over preparation.

You don't get to minimise disabilities.

NT, experienced SEN teacher so lots of experience of ND. I have one NT child and 2 highly functioning ND DC, and the difference is unmistakeable.

Oh really, that's interesting. I probably don't see it as mumsnet is the only form of social media I have so I don't spend much time online.

ND: not autism or ADHD, but dyspraxia and face-blindness,

This

With respect, you are very, very wrong.

Really insightful thanks so much for your explanation and well thought through discussion

No it's very much a disability. Trying to mask every single day so I fit in is exhausting.

More likely ND people are more attracted to this thread.

If enough people identify as ND, eventually the balance will tip and what we now consider diverse will become typical and vice versa

Really insightful thanks so much for your explanation and well thought through discussion

Ah, patronising too.

Nobody needs to discuss your dismissal of disability with you. What a lot of shit.

Oh, it's the autism and ADHD that makes me lack the ability to give you a 'well thought out discussion' - a good example of disability though

Yes, I do. I have a logical and rational way of thinking. I can prioritise tasks, make lists and just get things done.

This isn't a boast. This is just the way I am.

I struggle to comprehend how anyone could think of do things differently to me.

I think we are all guilty of this @UsingChangeofName - ND of NT people and vice versa.

A video might be about - not knowing where to start with a seemingly simple task such as doing the laundry. Or even organising a series of tasks such as getting the laundry done, tidying toys, ordering groceries. In the video the person talks about paralysis - Unable to start any of the task because you simple can't fathom what to do first.

This ^^ is a typical example of what to an NT person is a simple set of tasks that you just complete and mentally tick off a list once done.

DH and I completed an ADHD test that was linked on mumsnet some time ago. He scored 94 and I scored 26. It went some way to explain why he sometimes seems to me to be on a different planet.

He can never remember that it is a bank holiday for example, never closes drawers and cupboards, never switches lights off and never puts anything back in the right place. Then spends hours looking for things he has just put down in some random place, and gets more and more frustrated with himself.

This x 100%.

Get some understanding of what the terms mean before you dismiss others lived experience.

ADHD, dyscalculia and dyspraxia here. Huge problems with space and time. Much of life feels like a bad acid trip where I’m trapped inside an MC Escher drawing.

i can’t ride a bike or tie my shoes reliably. Never learned my times tables, got to secondary school still unable to add or subtract, had 8 years of piano lessons and never learned to read music, and I struggle to read an analogue clock. Trying to parallel park feels like I’m being mangled through a kaleidoscope. I can tell you what day of the week it is, but not the date, and often lose track of the month. Every so often my brain reverts to thinking it’s 2004 for some reason. 🤷‍♀️

I have the sorts of problems with daily life that would make you concerned about dementia if you noticed them in an elderly relative. But since I’ve been like this all my life, I’ve just been told that I’m lazy and need to try harder.

I cannot tell you how happy I was to learn that something is genuinely wrong with my brain, and I’m not just being spectacularly useless for no reason at all.

I don't know. I have done various tests and quizzes like Myers Briggs and "how do you think" type tests out of curiosity. They always come back that I have a very typically male way of processing things. And I'm introverted. So definitely unusual for a woman. I guess that's not ND in the way you mean though. I think I have some ND traits - for example I general dislike background noise. I never put the radio on, when I'm alone in the house it's silent. Background music is so distracting if I'm trying to do something else. My siblings and parents are the same. I don't know what that is.

True, and MN seems to have a much higher proportion of (openly) ND people.

But the figure quoted up thread is 40% so that's still a high proportion of the population. I wonder if as we start to design more around ND and other disabilities, if it will no longer be a disability? If many (most?) are ND and the world is equipped for their needs