[Oz-gifted] Straight out gifted

[Keith McGuinness]

> Am I just seeing/hearing the squeaky wheels?

Yes.

> Or are we all on the giant continuum and no one is
> devoid of the above, some just have a speck or two and
> others have truckloads that are obvious and then rate
> the various diagnosis?

Yes.

> Does anyone know of a just-gifted individual? Without
> any of the above? And if they do, are these
> just-gifted people really just-gifted or are they more
> clever at hiding their idiosyncrasies or the observers
> less able/not aware enough to notice them? Or their
> 'specks' don't clash with schools' or society's
> expectations??

Yes. Yes and no. Yes.

Less facetiously...I think that people, included "gifted" 
individuals, differ in all sorts of ways. (I'm putting "gifted" 
in quotes because there is no single definition of what it means.)

Just as the "average family with 2.4 kids" doesn't exist, neither 
does the "average person".

I also don't think that there is any such thing as "schools' 
expectations" or "society's expectations". Different people have 
different expectations. A group of similar people may have 
similar expectations but there will still be differences.

As a consequence, some-one who stands out in one set of 
circumstances may be unnoticeable in another, although some 
people differ so much, or in so many ways, that they stand out in 
most circumstances.

As for gifted individuals, some make their way through life 
without encountering any major problems specifically related to 
their giftedness. I was/am one. I'm not saying I haven't had 
problems, and a fair number of people (including most of my 
family) would cheerfully endorse the view that I am weird. But, 
as I said, I don't think that my weirdness is specifically 
related to giftedness.

Keith McGuinness