A Very Scientific Explaination of Non-Neurotypical Brains

I will explain everything about brains to you.

How information gets to the brain

So before anyone is born, they are issued some very important equipment by Men in White Lab coats. You get glasses, hearing devices and oven mitts.

Imagine that The Men in White Lab Coats gave you glasses, they are super cool glasses with lots of different lenses.  Like this:

These are Awesome Glasses

In a NT brain you can use all of the lenses anytime you like, flicking them back and forth to give you the most accurate way to filter incoming information. NNT's have different lenses, some of them weren't issued to NTs. There are other lenses that NT's have that I don't. Some of mine are stickier than NTs and it takes more effort for me to use them.

The worst kind of people get these glasses

The Men in White Lab Coats have also put a hearing aid in your ear that plays a low, annoying ringing noise that occasionally gets turned up louder when you are stressed, or sometimes it gets turned up randomly. Or sometimes it turns off and you can hear EVERYTHING anyone says within a 50 foot radius.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

It is not just a transmitting device, it also has a small recorder which stores incoming sounds and words. Some people are issued high quality recorders and can remember exactly what people say. Other people not so much, they can only remember certain words or phrases. Most NT's can adjust the level of noise coming out and the quality of the recording. Most NNT's have really good control over one aspect but maybe not both.

Recording level: 11.

Over your hands, Men in White Lab Coats have placed these giant heavy oven mitts. It’s hard to hold pencils or catch balls with your hands.

Micheal Scott: Probably not NT

Again, NT's get more options here, they can change mitts, or take them off, often they don't even know that they're wearing them.  My oven mitts also allow me to hyper focus on small, fine motor skills. I can knit for hours without thinking about what my hands are doing.

 

Men in White Lab Coats: also known as Genetics.

This is only part one. It explains how information can get "lost" on the way to the brain, but it doesn't explain how the brain processes the information once it gets to the brain. 

How the Brain Processes Information

The information is filtered through the Awesome Glasses/hearing device/oven mitts  into the series of tubes known as The Internet The Brain. So, in a NT brain things are wired "logically" meaning that mostly they take the shortest route between the incoming information and the what the information is getting used for. I imagine they look like this: 

This is someone else s brain

However. 

I am non-neurotypical 

My brain is wired to look more like this:

This is a NNT Brain

It takes me longer to process information that gets through the various filters.The distance from A to B here is much different and is considered less efficient by general population. However, it is this less direct line of thinking that creates innovation, produces beautiful works of art and makes the world a better place.

Why does this matter?

Now imagine that no one sees any of these things and they are reluctant to believe you. Because, you see, NT's may assume that The Men in White Lab Coats gave you the same set of equipment that they have. It helps to explain to people in terms that they get how your brain/your kids brain/your partners brain work.

I don't believe you.

Both images of the brain are beautiful, and there can be some instances when you would want to have a less "linear" kind of brain. My brain isn't wrong, the same way that there isn't a wrong kind of art. There isn't a right kind of brain out there. The best kind of brain doesn't exist.

It's useful for something, just not eating.

The differences are that the way that my brain is wired seriously different from the way that other people's brains are wired. It makes life harder. It makes getting homework done and being sucessful harder. But it doesn't make it impossible.