Neurotypical puts a lens on people navigating autism at very different stages of their lives and diagonses. Three-year-old Violet experiences the world in a pure, sensory way with none of the societal trappings that even children feel, as they are directed toward the “normal” and the “correct.” Violet is an explorer, with no concerns as to what the world might think of her. She scrambles, touches, feels, sees, smells and is a part of her world.

Nicholas, a young teenager, is at a very different stage. He negotiates the teenage social realm, largely from his skateboard. Being a teenager is an already complex social prospect, as are family relationships during that time. Nicholas has to contend with friends, girls, and how not to alienate a little brother who worships him and parents that are equally enamored and baffled by him.

Paula, married and the mother of a young son, uses her recent autism diagnosis to explain the difference in how she relates to the world compared to her husband and friends. Oddly, while her diagnosis “explains” much of her social behavior in her relationship, her husband is troubled because it also seems to give her “a pass.”

Seeing the highly intelligent subjects featured in this non-fiction film raises questions about how we, as a larger society, consider those with neurological differences like autism, dyslexia, and downs syndrome that don’t fit into the rigid boxes of “neurotypical” life. Are we practicing a new eugenics through genetic testing and the weeding out of those who don’t fit our idea of “normal”?

- Sarah Palmer