this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2026
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effort
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People sometimes use "neurotypical", but it has basically the same problem, that no one is truly normal or typical, because it's an artificial construct used for othering and people are all so different in many ways. I use it to mean: people who can adapt to societies expectations and norms without much effort. So they might still be very different with very different stuff going on in their brains, but they share this privilege to slightly different degrees. Obviously it has to be context dependent for the society at that place and time.
I don't think neurotypical works here because it's not about someone's neurology or mental health in this case, but their acculturation to mainstream society, which includes people who are neurodivergent and excludes some who are neurotypical.
Yes, I see your point. We might need a better word. "Neurotypical" has the work "neuro" in it, but in the way I tried to use it, it's not about what's going on in your brain at all. Or it might, but only indirectly. Or rather, some people use it in that way (like I did), others in a more biological way. I think we need a word for that "acculturation to mainstream society in a mental health adjacent way" and I definitely know, that some people actively use "neurotypical" for that. But I totally see the problem with the conflict with how others use it and also the potential for confusion.
I think the conventional phrasing for that is "well-adjusted," which as a poorly-adjusted person I have no problem with using, but you might not feel the same way.
Yes, I get how it fits, but it's so positively connotated and the opposite so negatively, that I would still hesitate to use it for me or somebody else. I guess, "poorly-adjusted" could be reclaimed in a positive way maybe. Like many other words. I mean being well-adjusted to a capitalist society is kind of suspicious anyway. Chomsky is well adjusted, Parenti wasn't (in a way, since he struggled to find employment).