Hi, my name is Stephanie, and today I thought I would help you out
by explaining some of the common autism and/or neurodiversity terms.
This is by no means extensive, but I believe it will help a lot of people
who are maybe newer to the whole autism thing and neurodiversity, et cetera,
to kind of understand some of the terms and maybe shorthand that is used.
So jumping right into it, NT is short for neurotypical.
That is someone whose brain most closely
matches the typical version of the human brain.
Now, it's important to note that all brains are different,
so there isn't really one copy-paste version of a brain.
However, there is a typical standard of what we see in the human brain.
And then the variations from there typically get considered
under neuro divergent.
Neurotypical is more than not autistic.
It is also more closely adhering to what is a normal-functioning brain.
Now, unfortunately, sometimes people do fall into the trap
of calling non-autistic people NTs a rule,
even though that doesn't necessarily make sense,
because they could also be neurodivergent in other ways, et cetera.
Another thing to be aware of is that in some cases,
neurotypical or NT can be used in a negative way or even in a
almost derogatory way to kind of signify that these people are other or put people
in a group to complain about them, but know that that is situation specific.
So just because someone says that you are neurotypical
or NT doesn't necessarily mean that they're insulting you.
ND stands for neurodivergent.
This would be the main alternative, I guess, to neurotypical.
There is quite the interesting conversation
about what counts as neurodivergent.
And I'll link you to a video in which I discuss
my personal thoughts about how it can be so very confusing about
what is neurodivergent or neurodiversity and all that jazz.
However, basically, if your brain deviates from normal,
you may be considered under neurodivergent.
ND can also stand for neurodiversity,
especially when talking about the neurodiversity movement.
And that is sometimes abbreviated to NDM.
AA, in this context, is not Alcoholics Anonymous, nor American Airlines.
It stands for actually autistic.
This is usually used in groups to mark the difference between autistic
individuals and those who are not.
A lot of times people will say AA here, blah, blah, blah, just to say that
they're autistic, because I guess it's technically shorter than saying that.
Mostly, it's just used in groups to differentiate between autistic people
and not autistic people in a group about autism things.
Now, sometimes actually autistic can refer to people
who identify more with being super loyal
to the main neurodiversity advocates and whatever they say goes kind of people.
This isn't true of everybody, but a lot of people who use the hashtag
actually autistic can be sometimes
very forward with their views on things
and may not be as tolerant to other people who don't use the right words.
Again, that is sometimes the case,
but a lot of times it's just denoting that someone is autistic.
ASD simply stands for autism spectrum disorder.
This is the official diagnosis in the DSM-5,
which took other diagnoses that were considered, like, related,
and it all now is wrapped under autism spectrum disorder.
Allistic is a word that mostly avoids the pitfall of the
NT or ND dichotomy
by being a word that means not autistic.
So you're not saying that person is neurotypical or otherwise neurodivergent.
You might not know, but you're just referring to people who are not autistic.
You might call them allistic.
SpIn is an interesting one.
I haven't seen this one
super commonly used, but I have seen it used enough to mention here.
And it is basically a shorthand for special interest.
This would be, of course, the interests that captivate the mind
of many autistic people, whether it's something super interesting to them.
They love to talk about it, love to hear about it.
Might view a lot of the world through using it
as a lens, a safe place, etc.
That's special interest, just being condensed into SpIn.
Same food is actually something I have made a video on before,
so you can go ahead and check out more about it there.
But in a quick, basic terms, this is like a go-to food
that an autistic person might have.
They might literally have it every day for breakfast or lunch or dinner
or something like that.
A lot of people go through, like, seasons of same food.
So, they'll go, their go-to food for like every meal,
and then one day they might move on to a different one.
Some people, it's more extreme, where they literally will only eat that
specific thing for dinner every single day for the foreseeable future.
So it really depends.
Now, in that video, I did mention safe food,
and I have been made aware that these are not exactly the same.
So please ignore the assertion that same food and safe
food are exactly the same because they're not.
And eventually, I will get to explaining that and its connection
to some other things with autism.
Stims, in case you weren't aware, are self stimulatory behaviors.
They also may be called stereotypy, stereopathy, and self-stim.
These are things like rocking, pacing, finger flicking, spinning,
all the interesting movements that autistic people that tend to engage in.
These are repetitive behaviors that tend to meet
some type of sensory need, and they can also be expressive.
The last one we're going to mention in today's video is spoons.
So, again, I've done a video on this.
It comes from something called spoon theory.
I highly recommend you learn more about it beyond this video,
just because it can be confusing as to why it's even called spoons.
But in simple terms, spoons is kind of like
having the energy, whether that's mental energy, physical energy,
emotional energy, whatever else to handle something.
Especially if someone says only do this If you have enough spoons,
they might be saying only engage in this
if you can expend that kind of energy
and still be able to do
the simple tasks in life that you need to do for the rest of of today
without having a breakdown or not being able to function, et cetera.
Again, I highly recommend you learn a little bit more about it
to understand it better.
But in very basic terms, it's kind of like saying
if you have enough energy or can handle this type of thing
without compromising the rest of your day or week.
Anyway, that's some of the main lingo or terms that I have run
across regarding autism and neurodiversity.
And I thought it might be helpful for someone to tell you what the heck
these things mean.
So I hope it's been helpful and or insightful in some way.
If it has been, go ahead
and hit the like button and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
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I try to upload every Thursday at four p.m.
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Thank you so much for watching.
I hope you have a wonderful week and I will see you in my next video. Bye.