"Fundamentally", we are just like everyone else...we breath, we eat, we drink, we poop, we put our pants on one leg at a time the same as everyone else.
But once the court "labels" us as NCPs...we are treated differently. An excellant example of this difference is daycare. They will not release the child to a NCP unless it is their "day", but a CP can pick up the child REGADLESS of who's "day" it is. Dispite federal laws, NCPs have a hell of a time getting information from schools, from the police, from doctors, government agencies, etc.
Withhold child support and you face going to jail...withhold parenting time and you face a slap on the hand.
In Crocker v Crocker, an Oregon Supreme Court case, the State admitted the "child attending school" statutes violated the State's Constitution of "equal protection", but because it had a valid "rationale" for doing so, it was allowed.