Are you autistic and gifted?

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My special interests mean that I know a lot about certain topics. But I wouldn’t say that I am gifted.

Perseverance is a gift I don't possess most of the time.

I can't teach a bunch of five-year-olds, no less be a professor.

If I had perseverance, I would have been a successful professional.

I always thought I had the gift of empathy/compassion, but I've been told here that I lack those just because I sometimes act on impulse when posting about political matters. So if I lack empathy then I have nothing. I'm practically worthless.

I used to be told I was really talented, but I don't know if that's the same as gifted.
"Talented" is able to draw cartoon characters without tracing or copying. "Gifted" is being able to read and understand Shakespeare at the age of 6.

Well... I have a PhD in Economics but I'd say generally I consistently underachieved. Amongst PhD economists I am probably average if not below average.

For example, if you have a PhD in Economics and don't have any publications, basically you are a failed PhD in that you never should have been given one. Its true, and in the PhD world those with publications treat those without as "fakes."

I'm consistently above average in a lot of things I try but because of ADHD I never really was able to focus on something long term. To get those publications it is also very important to be good at social stuff as you need to find professors to work with and thats my fail point.

I made a strategy game that is going on sale soon, so I can point to things I've done and say "I have done something that smart people do," but it won't feel significant at all unless I get >1,000 copies sold.

I would say that had I been non ADHD and my first 20 years had gone better, in an alternate universe I'd be working in Silicon Valley and have a a degree from a top school. But as it is, while I have a PhD it is literally the lowest ranked program in the field and I barely could handle it.

I think most of my "mental energy" was taken up trying to figure out social stuff for most of my life and there really wasn't much left over.

In other words, I don't think being autistic and gifted/above avg intelligence. I think I got the "smart but lazy" label a lot by professors and thats pretty demoralizing. It makes you feel like no one will give you an honest chance. A lot of graduate school depends on other professors giving you a chance. If you get a professor to like you, they will give you access to data sets and such that you couldn't get otherwise.

This is really well put. I never thought of it that way before, but it's so true.
It's not that I wanted a social life, but I still ruminated over my place in society and how other people acted.
That burns a lot of brain power and executive function.



I agree with this too. It's all about making connections to ensure funding and opportunities. To make those connections we need to be liked beyond our academic merit. It's easy to be off-loaded or exploited with too much research if they think you're meek, or to be judged and overlooked for publishing opportunities if you're an introvert who can't keep pace.

If I were not, then my parents would have asked for a refund.

I can be good at recognizing patterns and I've always been good with animals, but I am not thought of as gifted by the people around me. I certainly don't think of myself that way. I was not marked as gifted as a kid either. I was put in the slow classes. I do have a PhD and run my own research lab now, but it's not like I got here just by virtue of being 'gifted'. I had to do a lot of work and I had to change my mindset. My lab is not the most high-achieving, but I love to write, and when I'm not overburdened with teaching I tend to publish more than many others in my department. I learn new things and new skills every day, and it isn't easy sometimes. I think the hardest part for me now is being in charge of graduate students. It's a tremendous responsibility. I want them to be well taken care of, but I know I'm not the best at detecting unspoken needs and feelings.

...and this is what I mean about it being a terrifying responsibility to be in charge of grad students. People in my job are widely hated, and for good reason. A lot of people have bad experiences with their advisors. A lot of advisors are poorly trained in managerial skills (myself included). Some use their position of power to take advantage of others. I don't want to make anyone go through that. I just want to do my research and I want to work with people I think are great. I know I'm biased, but I feel like my grad students are the best. I want to make sure they are ok and get to where they want to go, but it can be exhausting sometimes. It's hard to know how and when to prioritize another person's needs versus your own.

Last edited by Fern on 05 Dec 2022, 7:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I am in several areas, but made a conscious choice when I was about 13 to diversify so as not to become a "savant."
That worked out very well.

Definitely, I the head of my graduate department literally told me to my face that "I want to put you on academic probation but your grades are too good."

He was literally telling me he did not like me personally, and he wanted to punish me for it.

Now, that guy is a well known a hole so I didn't take it too personal at the time.

But in graduate school, the ONLY concern for professors is "can this graduate student help me publish papers." Thats it. I could not, or it was perceived I could not.

When I was in school it was a lot easier to get paid RA (Research Assistant) positions.
These days they're few and far between, and usually offered to BIPOC.
Nothing against BIPOC and equal opportunity, but it's become political as well as social.

I'm sorry that person was so rude to you.
Did you have any accommodations?
They didn't exist in my time and I'm sure they're not taken seriously today.

I went to Auburn University's Applied Econ school in the Agricultural Econ department. Its a weird mix and none of my classes had anything to do with agriculture.

Anyways, what I later realized at the end was that they assume all Americans are "Mises" people. Near the university, but not on the property, is the Mises Institute. Basically, its crackpot economics and they form the basis for right wing economics. For example, they reject the use of math in economics.

So they assume all Americans are "one of theirs." In truth, yeah all the other Americans in my classes WERE Mises and they failed quickly because econ is a lot of math.

About 70% of my class was students here on Visa. So if you were a citizen of the US, they assumed you were one of them.

Basically, my professors assumed I was a right wing nutjob simply because I was an American.

I hate them to this day because of it. The insanity of it was their only "evidence" was I told a professor I did not hate Ronald Reagan. Thats it.

Gifted or a genious?

I don't know. I am highly intelligent, especially as a child. I started talking when I was 5 years old, very late, but I did unusual things when I was 4 (those things are normal when done by way older children, not by a 4 years old).

I didn't only start talking at 5, but I also learned to read and write and speak at the same time. I learned to play a recorder, and organ and learned about harmonisation. I may be gifted about music and languages. Later on, also on computers.

At 8 I learned German (I am Dutch), at 11 I learned Russian, at 12 English. I am very good at Esperanto, English and German.

I maybe gifted about driving in a big foreign city; I have been in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne, Paris, Brussels, Prague, Szczecin, Plzeň. And likely about multitasking; doing a few things (apparently) at the same time. When I drove through Berlin, I expected to be exhausted because of many visual inpot that I had to process, but that is not the case. When I drove from Szczecin to Berlin, I wasn't even tired! The next Christmas vacation, I will go to London, Liverpool and Edinburgh and drive at the left side of the road, with a steering wheel at the right. That may be a too big step, so I will take some driving lessons.

I am not a savant, and I am not really handicapped due to autism (I have seen many autistic savants, and I am not close to them; I don't recognise the problems they have). I haven't had much behavioral therapy, but I had parents that are/were loving (my mother died some years ago). They were stimulating me to do things I liked. I got extremely good at them. I have played many musical instruments; a few instruments when I was a 5 or 6 years old child.

The work is a disaster. I tried to find another job, but that won't be easy. They all want experienced employees (sheep with 5 or 6 legs, instead of 4 or 3), and want them to not be autistic, which seem to be more important than skills. I showed my HR manager and my higher boss a video about a Belgian professor, which is about high intelligence.

So the person driving the Fedex truck isn't gifted even if he/she is extremely good at it because it is not an academic subject?

Also, I think the whole giftedness thing is a lot about avaoiding what people are bad at or struggle with. I am talking about how it is ussually presented.
Gifted people are actually bad at a lot of subjects so I don't buy into the giftedness thing.

Understand Shakespeare by the the age of 6?
Why don't we see many book on Shakepears by 6 year olds? Or do we?