8:31pm June 7, 2014

By the way…

…I understand the way it must look to people who were never labeled ‘gifted’, to hear people complaining about having been labeled 'gifted’.  Because we’re all set up to see 'gifted’ as a good thing, and people who never got that label have been made to feel inferior, often, to people who did get that label at some point.  And there’s an assumption kind of like “well what have you got to complain about?”

But I think it’s sort of like the labels low and high functioning.  Each one comes with its own set of pressures and demands, and high points and low points.  I’ve been considered both high and low functioning, just like I’ve had both a high IQ and a somewhat low IQ.  And while I think overall in general you get better opportunities in life if you’re labeled high functioning or gifted, that is not necessarily how it works out for any individual so labeled.  Labels like 'gifted’ and 'high functioning’ can also kill people.

So when I complain about things related to giftedness, I’m not ignoring the fact that some people never got the chance to be considered gifted.  And I’m not ignoring the fact that for some people, being considered gifted actually saved their lives, rather than almost destroyed them.  But it almost destroyed mine.  And that’s why I’m not happy about it, and not ever going to be happy about it.

(ETA: “gifted” did also not get me out of being put in special ed or called the r-word or written off as not having a mind or a lot of other stuff that people imagine it gets you out of.  It does get you out of some stuff though.)

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