I’ll admit it. There’s one phrase I really can’t stand: “normal people do this.”

I’ve heard it way too many times. And every time, it came with a different reason that, honestly, I never fully understood. Based on my choices, work, family, passions, and skills, I’m a perfectly “normal” person... with my own quirks, of course. Yet somehow, my way of being is often seen as “not normal.”

Sure, I’m not the life of the party. And if I can, I avoid big crowds or large groups. But my choices don’t clash with other people’s “normality.” Not at all. I know plenty of people who need to be around others all the time. Some who stop to chat forever with anyone they run into on the street, about anything and everything. I don’t consider them abnormal—they’re just different from me.

Different doesn’t mean abnormal. At least not in my book. For me, it’s normal to keep words and social interactions to a minimum, to focus on deeper conversations (at least deeper for me), rather than small talk. Or to have special interests I could happily talk about for hours and days, preferably with the few people who actually care about them.

I am NORMALLY and NATURALLY neurodivergent, just like a neurotypical person is NORMALLY and NATURALLY neurotypical. Both kinds of normal are… well, normal! So when someone says, “normal people do this,” to me it feels like a pointless, even hurtful judgment.

And there’s another phrase I can’t stand: “we’re all a little autistic.” No, we’re not. We can all be healthy and “normal” (which I honestly hope for everyone), but that doesn’t make us all “a little autistic.” Just look at the numbers: only about 1–2% of people in the world are autistic. Neurodivergence is simply a different way of the brain working. It’s not abnormal or unnatural.

Generalizations are harmful, and we need to let them go.