["At the other end of the spectrum, we find people in whom the tendencies and inclinations of the True Self are thoroughly incompatible with the norms governing the performance of the gender they were assigned at birth— incompatible to the point where performing their assigned gender causes them serious distress. For some of these people, the ones we refer to as transgender, the socially-constructed binary gender that they weren't assigned at birth (the so-called "opposite" gender) turns out to be a far better fit than the gender they were initially assigned. For others, neither of the binary gender options offered by the dominant heteronormative culture are a suitable fit.
Of course, all of this is an oversimplification for the sake of brevity; it's entirely possible to be both transgender and non-binary, for instance, and not all cultures limit themselves to a strict masculine/feminine binary when it comes to societally-approved gender options. The key point I'm making here is that while no one is born biologically predestined to "naturally" perform a specific gender in accordance with the gender norms of their native society, each individual does have their own particular predispositions which may make the socially-demanded heteronormative performance of their assigned gender viable and relatively intuitive for them, or somewhat less of a good fit, or highly uncomfortable, or downright impossible.
In this regard as in so many other regards, the dynamics of neuronormativity mirror and are entwined with the dynamics of heteronormativity. Like heteronormativity, neuronormativity is deeply ingrained in the prevailing culture and in all manner of social conventions, systems, and institutions. Like heteronormativity, neuronormativity is a pervasive social force, comprising a collection of innumerable culturally-constructed norms— norms related to nearly every aspect of embodiment, development, cognition, expression, communication, comportment, conduct, and interaction— which are socially modeled, inculcated, and enforced from birth onward in countless ways. And like heteronormativity, neuronormativity is to a large extent a matter of the ongoing habitual performance of internalized social norms.
Like heteronormative performance, neuronormative performance is a better fit for some folks than for others. At one end of the spectrum are those whose innate tendencies and inclinations are compatible enough with their local culture's standards of neuronormative performance that they readily internalize those standards and come to experience their own socially instilled performance of neuronormativity as "natural." This deep internalization and embodiment of the performance demands of neuronormativity, made possible when there is at least some basic degree of compatibility between those performance demands and the individual's innate capacities, is what we're really talking about when we refer to someone as neurotypical.
At the opposite end of the spectrum are those for whom the performance of neuronormativity is literally impossible— those who are absolutely unable to perform the actions necessary to maintain a neuronormative façade, and unable to suppress visibly non-neuronormative embodiments. In between the neurotypicals and those for whom neuronormative performance is an impossibility are those for whom neuronormativity is to some substantial degree incompatible with their natural tendencies and inclinations, such that neuronormative performace is a bad fit for them, is only partially possible and/or only sometimes possible for them, costs them significant effort, and is ultimately harmful for them to attempt to sustain.
Those who view neurodiversity through a neuroessentialist lens have an unfortunate tendency to compare and contrast neurotypicality with innate forms of neurodivergence like autism in a way that implicity assumes autism and neurotypicality to be equally innate and equally intrinsic to a person's being. In the less well-informed discourses on neurodiversity that unfold on social media, for instance, one too often sees people speaking of "the neurotypical brain," as if neurotypicality were a biological destiny that unfolded inevitably from being born with a specific kind of brain.
On a strictly neurobiological level, there's not actually such a thing as a "normal brain" or a "neurotypical brain," any more than there's such a thing as a "male brain," a "heterosexual brain," or an "American brain." Neurotypical people aren't people who all share one distinct type of human brain, they're people whose compliance with prevailing cultural standards of neuronormative performance gains them the privileges that come with being considered "normal" within the dominant culture. Neurotypicality is more a social phenomenon than a biological one."]
