Gifted problems...

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You have definately got more of the charectaristics than me NeantHumain and im pretty sure im at the light end of asperger's syndrome (though some of the things describes asperger's well).

The way i thought gifted meant these days is doing something exceptionally good or are very good at a wide range of things. If you are either i am happy for you (and jealous) but alas i am neither of the two and though i really stand out in some ways i am pretty useless in most ways that would be of much use to me.

The point that I was trying to make is that contrary to popular belief, AS != giftedness. If you happen to be a person who is gifted, then good for you. Just don't gloat over the fact.

This describes me almost perfectly.

Can we please define how we are using 'gifted' since the term leaves much to be interpretted?

Are we referring to someone with a single ability above the norm (in any area), or a jack of all trades, something savantyish, or all of the above? Which?

It really doesn't matter what definition you use for giftedness to say that not all people with Asperger's are gifted. With Asperger's having a lower limit on IQ of 70, there are many out there who are good at nothing, and yet still have Asperger's.

I was brought up in a time when being gifted meant that you were good at a wide range of things. In this day that definition has been watered down quite a bit. I do not consider myself gifted, even though I know that I am. The reason for this is that in the real world, giftedness does not mean a thing. It means prestige while in school, and maybe an advantage at being able to get a good job, but other than that there are a host of factors that determine a person's success, and unfortunately social skill is a big one of those. I know people who are dumb as a rock who get PhD's.

Whenever I hear someone say "I'm gifted" on this board, I always think the same thing: "You're a kid, you'll learn."

I'll likely have trouble getting a job... but I'll still be gifted!!

I'm with PaulB, at the end of the day it doesn't matter what you are.

I have all the attributes listed for gifted adult and had nearly all of the ones for the gifted child. Unfortunately, it is all combined with low self-esteem because in Australia, we have this thing called "tall poppy syndrome" ie. people who stand out in some way, except maybe in sports are actively disliked for standing out from the general mediocrity.

I refuse to be mediocre or just a mental clone. If that means being less popular well, oh dear how sad never mind.

That thing about abstract concepts like death is an interesting one as I continually pestered mum with questions about death when I was about five. It came after these two ladies who used to visit and fuss over me suddenly stopped visiting.

I asked "why". Mum said "they died, within a few weeks of one another - it was so sudden" So then I said "why - they didn't look sick". She said "sometimes people can get sick suddenly". I said "does that mean you will get sick suddenly and die?" and so on and so on.

Dad thought I was autistic earlier in life because I had an insatiable need to learn things and was forever asking questions and wanting to look at books. This kind of got knocked out of me at school, though.

That big printout of gifted traits describes me very well. Fortunately, the "possible problems" side of that has been lessened for me now that I'm out of school and am working at a job that values my creative skills.