by Graham King

Created on: May 26, 2008   Last Updated: May 27, 2008

This essay started life as a blog entry which in turn began as my reply to a friend's warm-hearted and understanding email about contrasted Neurotypical/Asperger ways of thinking.

I think that understanding that there are differences, in how people think
and perceive, and that these are not necessarily just 'wrong' or 'impairments'
or 'disabilities', is a key thing to realise. I have a personal interest in

this, as I do think a bit differently myself, so I am glad of higher
publicity and acceptance being given to such variation recently, and in a
positive way (for example, there is even a TV cop show "Numbers" about a young guy
using maths to help his FBI brother solve crimes. My wife and I like this
show! I think it promotes acceptance of different ways of thinking as useful in society).

It's helpful to come to realise the myth of normal - to see that
'normal' is a very doubtful thing to try to define. Is 'normal' objectively
real, or just whatever most people agree to decide it is?

I think, a bit of both! 'Normal' for human beings is whatever works and is allowed
by God. Some of life is determined for us, but we also have initiative to
learn and try new things. Some ways have been long-accepted, proving their worth over time, but we have to remain adaptable. Traditions, the cords of continuity linking the generations, can sometimes become a snare rather than a helpful guide-rope; though past precedent can prove to be a lifeline in chaotic times.

In a sense no-one is normal, in the way that humanity was originally created to be. Today humans live for only a fraction (about 1/8) as long the earliest generations did, according to the book of Genesis. And dying was not normal originally! What behaviour though is normal now, for us as people today living in the
changed world (no longer a Garden of Eden) we now find ourselves in?

Every culture has its own definition or range of 'normal', some cultures
very different from others. For example two good and godly practical people, living
in very different climates/social settings, may adopt very different
amounts/types of clothing - for good reason. Imagine an Arctic Inuit and a Kalahari Bushman, each dressed according to the norms of their own culture, brought instantly face-to-face. Either, appearing like that in the other's environment,
would be bizarre and unreasonable, likely to be thought mad!

'Normal' also changes with time. Nowadays in the streets of British towns it's common to
see the top of people's underwear showing in public

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