Op-Ed: What does ‘neurotypical’ mean? Almost nothing, apparently.

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I’ve been watching the slow babbling evolution of terms like “neurotypical” and “neurodiversity” with growing repulsion. It’s turned into a predictable social divide. The usage is based entirely on people’s ability to use the words in context with anyone or anything.

The history of the expression “neurotypical” seems to have been simply trying to pin down a term for people who don’t have actual neurological issues. It has since become a crusade in incomprehension

It’s also based on an at best flimsy knowledge base which is pretty close to farcical. In an environment like a workplace, which is typically a social spiderweb of relationship issues this segregation doesn’t help anyone.

Sounds good so far, doesn’t it?

Let’s pin down the rather shoddy vocabulary that has arisen in practical applications:

“Neurotypical” is what you think is neurotypical behavior, aka yourself.

“Neurotypical” also by definition implies a rough average, undistinguished.

Therefore nobody called “neurotypical” is in any sense a standout by definition.

“Neurodiverse” is absolutely anything else and includes a vast bandwidth of psychological disorders you know nothing at all about.

Well, ain’t you brilliant? Neurodiverse, even?

No. You’re also more than likely not any sort of professional practitioner. You’ve been given a “Style Guide to Managing People in the Workplace”. Serves you right for letting people into the workplace.

After this, you can move on to running a flea circus, or 2025 America, depending on your level of self-respect.

Real psychologists and behaviorists and anyone who’s ever managed anyone else will tell you that this simplistic, primitive black-and-white approach can’t work. It never has.

This is what’s happening:

You have the guy who solves problems and the others who don’t. You therefore decided that the guy who solves the problems is neurodiverse, and the lazy morons who don’t are neurotypical.

You then penalize the useful guy with patronizing and incredibly clumsy approaches to “treatment” for getting things right. You tell people how to interact with neurodiverse people as though you could possibly have the slightest idea what you’re talking about.

It’s turned into yet another HR sector fad nobody ever needed.  Particularly not real HR people dealing with other real people. See a pattern, bozos?

To clarify – Check out this search of “how to manage neurodiversity”. The AI overview is interesting.

Can you see in that overview anything at all that isn’t just common sense management?  

No? Of course not.

People have been “neurowhatever” forever. Enough with the pseudo-psychology.

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