Well any of my followers will know that i have spoken about language and how we use it. How that’s important. How Identity first language really is a big thing for me.
It was brought to my attention in recent that the name of this blog is a little off putting and decisive to some. Let me explain a little.
NT NOWAY – It always stood for Neurotypical No Way? But it did have a question mark. You can’t really have a question mark in the domain name so that got dropped.
It was never meant to be a long the lines of No way do I want to be a neurotypical. As if that was a bad thing. Well I don’t want to be a neurotypical if I am honest, but not in a divisive superior way. In a way that it would mean I would not be me.
What I mean here is that I am not NT so I can’t be NT and to pretend I am is not being true to myself.
So if that’s not what it meant what does it mean?
It grew as a name I dreamed up when I was trying to work out who I was, in the period of self reflection and exploring diagnosis and eventually identifying as Âûtistic. It was and still is in my mind a statement of being. A statement that I am no way a neurotypical. I just ain’t.
This was an exploratory statement. It represented my journey. And perhaps you will find that journey if you go back to the really old posts.
I want to be clear. In my mind we are all human, Allistic and Âûtistic together. Neurotypical and Neurodivergent together. We walk together in this world. We may not share neurology, we may be different but neither of us are less. Just as the Autistic says with pride I am different not less, it is equally true for the neurotypical.
I had a difficult conversation with some true allies of Âûtistics. Who felt the need to bring the issue that the name seemed to convey divisiveness and superiority. That it could alienate others. This has never been my goal. My goal is to highlight the plight, the human rights of autistics in particular but not to degrade those very same rights of non autistics. That would only be a perfect case of a reverse discrimination. And that is not me at all.
So where to from here? That has been the question of my subconscious as I slept overnight. Many will know I have a Facebook page in addition to this blog. The page is called Proud Autistic Living, and so my inclination is to go change the name of ntnoway to proud autistic living. I would love your feedback on this idea.
Indeed I would love to here if you feel you have an idea for a name that goes with the blog, it’s feel and message. I am open to ideas.
Love to hear from you.
I don’t think you shoukd allow ingnorant, ableist, NT folks to decide what you can call your blog. One of the biggest things we face is erasure, and their refusal to even attempt to understand us. Giving in like thus, makes the secure that their ignirance mean you were wrong and had to be told how to do things, after all, to them, we are less than and broken.
I say leave it alone, and if they persist, challenge their ignorance and hubris.
That’s just my thoughts/feelings your mileage may vary.
Sami
I assumed the name meant that you are proud of who you are, and I saw no offense in it at all. If you changed the name to Proud Autistic Living, that would also work, because it, too, would say that you take pride in who you are, which is what we should all try to do. Again, I saw no offense in the name.
Proud Autistic Living (PAL) has power. Positive, strong, pushing forward, making it happen (whatever “it” is).
I hadn’t thought consciously about NT, No Way, but as an NT (with family all over the spectrum), there is a brush of negativity to it that isn’t there with PAL.
And PAL makes it more about YOU and YOUR journey, etc.; where NTNW feels more outward and not you.
Does that make sense? I hope it helps 🙂