Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion What drives your interest in gifted issues?

My son is 2e. It took years to figure it out. in that process, I figured out that I'm also gifted .... and ended up with an ADHD diagnosis myself.

I suffered from academic mismatch and educated parents who were uneducated about non-neurotypical children. I was in a parochial school that actively "cut down tall poppies" directing telling me that I couldn't be me/smart/talented because "it might make someone else feel bad."

I was miserable, suicidal, for most of my life. I'm not sure how I survived high school, honestly. I ended up with a long, long, long list of psychiatric misdiagnosis and plenty of damage done from psychiatric medications. After a series of major life changes and years-long process of getting the misdiagnoses resolved, I'm doing okay-good. The damage is deep though, and remnants of the childhood academic mismatch are hard to shake off. I'm left with an eating disorder, tendency for anxiety, underachiever, fear of success, fear of malicious envy, and squandered musical and artistic talents. It's a crappy situation to be in mid-life.

I learned from my parents' example and my childhood that "do nothing" does not necessarily result in "do no harm". I learned that I needed to "do something" for my son(s). Figuring out what to do has been difficult. Heck, figuring out what he might potentially need has been difficult!

I am continually learning. This forum has been immensely beneficial, and I pass on the advice I received which has been true.