Haute potentiel, hoogbegaafdheid, “gifted”, twice exceptional etc.

[FloorWipes]

Is anyone familiar with these labels and do you have any thoughts on their merits (or otherwise!) and how they intersect with autism, adhd and neurodiversity?

I'm not a fan of kids being labelled gifted (or variations thereof). It happened to me in primary school and led to a whole ton of expectations being placed on me which I wasn't able (or actually even willing) to fulfil. I was expected to become some kind of high-flier. Not only was that never what I wanted, but my probable neurodiversity (I say probable because I'm self-diagnosed) would have rendered it impossible anyway.

I'm 54 and have never had a high-flying career, but have managed to find my way to fulfilling work that fits with who I am, but the disappointment from certain members of my family when I didn't perform 'as expected' was difficult to take. The trouble is, it's only at this point in my life that I have been able to mentally articulate this to myself, and so I've spent most of my working life feeling like an under-achiever over expectations I never said I wanted to meet in the first place.

Sorry, that sounds quite negative, but this has been a difficult thing in my life. I don't have kids, but if I had had them I'd have been very careful not to label them gifted even if they seemed to be, or to place specific expectations on them based on their apparent aptitude.

I hear you, I relate strongly and I agree!

I’m kind of intrigued by the French concept of HPI (haut potentiel intellectuel) because it’s not really the same concept as our notion of “gifted” as far as I can tell. It seems to be conceptualised as a type of neurodiversity and acknowledges that this group faces particular challenges. In some ways it is perhaps a bit similar to the idea of the highly sensitive person, but it’s not exactly that either. I have also noticed that some people dislike it because they feel it intercedes to prevent some autistic people from receiving their true diagnosis of autism. I don’t know enough about it and I don’t find it that easy to read about in French. Would be interested if anyone knows more.

That's interesting, I haven't heard of that before. I've read a lot about the highly sensitive person concept though, it definitely applies to me - too much for comfort sometimes! wry laugh

Yeah it is interesting. It’s hard to build a full picture of the idea though. If you search for “hpi” in r/autism you will find a couple of useful discussions on it.

I happened upon it just because basically I’m trying to figure out what my correct diagnosis is, because nothing seems to fit 100%, and I thought maybe there is something else out there besides ASD and ADHD. I feel there have to be more neurodevelopmental differences than that.

Or very possibly we just don’t really understand ASD and the full spectrum of how it manifests in women.