Do neurotypical people even exist?

Short answer? Yes.

In order to understand how and why neurotypical people do exist, we need to understand a couple of things about neurotypical.

Despite what people may think, much like the word neurodivergent, neurotypical didn’t emerge from psychiatry or neuroscience and it wasn’t coined to describe a ‘normal brain’.

Neurotypical originally started off as satire - a way to mimic the pathologising language used to describe Autistic people but flipping it onto so called ‘normal’ traits to expose how arbitrary and absurd it was to pathologise Autistic traits. It was a way to subvert the power dynamics that are embedded in diagnostic language and categories or a way to show how easy it is to pathologise any form of behaviour if you just talk about it a certain way.

Unsurprisingly, neurotypical caught on as a term to describe those who can comfortably, sustainably and consistently align with neuronormativity or dominant cultural norms around how people should function.

Neurotypical is not, and was never, a biological or scientific term which is the point.

One of the biggest misconceptions around neurotypical is that it refers to a ‘normal’ or ‘typical’ brain wiring or a ‘normal brain’. In fact, neurotypical can’t refer to a normal brain because there’s no such thing as a normal brain anyway according to neurodiversity. There is no single neurological blueprint from which other brains diverge from.

There is no such thing as a neurotypical brain so when people say that there’s no such thing as a normal or typical brain, they’re absolutely correct but this doesn’t mean that neurotypical people don’t exist.

This is because neurotypical can be better understood as a social position or social category.

It refers to people who are rewarded a certain level of power and privilege for how closely their functioning aligns with neuronormativity and describes individuals who are rewarded for how closely, comfortably and sustainably they can perform and maintain neuronormativity.

Dr Nick Walker compares neurotypical to being cisgender or straight and states the following her book, Neuroqueer Heresies:

“If you can perform your assigned heteronormative gender role convincingly enough throughout your life, and if staying within the boundaries of that performance is actually sustainable and bearable for you, and if you choose to stay within those boundaries and comply with the demands of heteronormativity, then the dominant culture judges your gender and sexuality to be “normal” and rewards you with cisgender privilege and straight privilege in other words, the reward for your constant and convincing compliance with dominant standards of heteronormativity is that members and institutions of the dominant culture don’t discriminate against you for being queer.”

We can apply this same understanding to being neurotypical.

If you can perform neuronormativity and if meeting neuronormative expectations and standards is sustainable and bearable, then the dominant culture judges your functioning to be “normal” and you are rewarded or at the very least, you aren’t discriminated against and labelled as disordered or mentally ill.

When we say cisgender people exist, we aren’t saying cisgender people have a normal gender. When we say straight people exist, we aren’t saying straight people have a normal sexuality. It’s therefore safe to say that when we say neurotypical people exist, we aren’t saying neurotypical people have a normal brain.

We are saying there are people who occupy a privileged social position within a neuronormative society.

Why is denying the existence of neurotypical people a problem?

Some people argue that neurotypical people don’t exist because everyone is different and while they’re absolutely right, everyone is different, but this actually dismisses power dynamics and power imbalances.

Saying neurotypical people don’t exist is as nonsensical as saying straight people, white people or cisgender people don’t exist. In fact, when we deny the existence of neurotypical people, we are at risk of denying and dismissing the power dynamic at play. If we deny the existence of straight or cisgender people, we end up denying and ignoring the advantages and privileges of aligning with cisnormativity and heteronormativity.

If we deny social categories, we end up denying the privileges attached to it. If we fail to acknowledge neurotypical privilege, we fail to challenge those privileges and we fail to challenge to neuronormativity.

Proximity to Neuronormativity

Acknowledging that neurotypical people exist doesn’t mean we can’t acknowledge that neuronormativity harms everyone including neurotypical people and everyone would benefit from neuronormativity been dismantled and disrupted.

However, it’s so important to recognise that that harm is not distributed evenly. While neuronormativity harms everyone, not everyone is significantly disadvantaged by neuronormativity.

This is where we need to recognise and discuss proximity to neuronormativity. Individuals vary in how closely they align with neuronormativity and this alignment informs how someone is treated, included, excluded, perceived, awarded, punished and obviously, pathologised and the consequences that come with that.

Some people might experience neuronormativity as a mild annoyance or pressure to stay focused, stay organised, stay emotionally regulated, work a certain way, socialise a certain way, communicate a certain way but these expectations don’t significantly impact them because meeting them is relatively sustainable or the very least, manageable without negatively impacting them. However, for other people, neuronormativity isn’t a subtle reminder or pressure but a significant barrier and source of chronic strain, exclusion, discrimination and punishment.

Those with greater proximity to neuronormativity avoid social punishment, discrimination and pathologisation entirely. People with greater proximity to neuronormativity move through the word with fewer obstacles.

Those with less proximity to neuronormativity are labelled as disordered, mentally ill and face the consequences of being labelled as such - punished, institutionalised, excluded, discriminated against. We are impacted by the expectations of neuronormativity every single day in various aspects of our lives. Our very existence is policed by neuronormativity.

So, do neurotypical people exist?

Yes. As a social category, not a biological category.

Acknowledging neurotypical people is not about reinforcing binaries but about naming power and we cannot dismantle neuronormativity without naming that power.