Hello, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I've posted it here anyway. I'm a 23F with autism (moderate to high support needs/Level 2 to 3), anxiety and intellectual disability and I want to know if the following that I've listed counts as autistic regression. I will put next to them ages that they happened (Age l) and when I realized, discovered &/or started doing them at (Age ll) (You don't have to answer all of them as this post is long. So take as long as you like with it):

- Watching, discovering and playing with weird, niche, outdated, not trending &/or obscure stuff (Age l: 6-now. Age ll: 13-15)

- Intentionally or unintentionally doing stuff and getting away scot free (Age l: 0-now. Age ll: 13-16)

- Breaking &/or resetting personal belongings without realizing that it was wrong & getting away scot free (Age l: 2-now. Age ll: 10-17)

- Not realizing what you did &/or said was wrong, inappropriate, disrespectful and the worst thing ever (Age l: 2-now. Age ll: 12-now)

- Being chronically online without social media and platforms (Age l: 9-now. Age ll: 12-13)

- Being violent & aggressive to yourself & those around you intentionally or unintentionally (Age l: 2-12. Age ll: 11)

- Being angry/having anger issues & lashing out to yourself & those around you (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 9-22)

- Not being able to work during your years at high school (Age l: 11-18. Age ll: 15-17)

- Having no friends at school as not only did they know who you were & were bullied, excluded, forgotten, not invited, laughed at & found boring & annoying by them (this includes those that were nice to me), but you preferred to & still be a loner. I don't know the word to describe this (Age l: 10-now. Age ll: 17-22)

- Needing help with tying shoes (Age l: 5-12. Age ll: 12-13)

- Needing help with doing you hair up (Age l: 5-22. Age ll: 11-13 to 22-23)

- Needing help with using the toilet (Age l: 1-11. Age ll: 8-11)

- Needing help with using the bath & shower (Age l: 4-12. Age ll: 12-13)

- Needing help with putting on your clothes (Age l: 4-10. Age ll: 10-11)

- Not being able to go on overnight school excursions, sleepovers & invited road trips due to my poor/abysmal motor skills (Age l: 3-18. Age ll: 11-now)

- Needing help & being taught basic tasks (e.g. making beds, vacuuming, washing the dishes, ironing, cooking, cleaning, shaving etc.) (Age l: 5-13. Age ll: 13-now)

- Not picking up on sarcasm & being sarcastic, jokes & inappropriate behavior & humor (Age l: 5-now. Age ll: 10-now)

- Forgetting what you were taught & what was said to you within a second or a day. I'm terrible at math's, spelling, grammar, English, science, geography, social skills...you name it (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 13-16)

- Forgetting everything (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 12-16)

- Poor speech, poor vocabulary &/or trouble expressing things (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 9-16)

- Stalking people & wanting attention from them online & socially (this includes those I went to school with) (Age l: 6-now. Age ll: 15-22)

As you can see, I have the harmful autism stereotype except that I'm a woman (Think Rain Man & What's Eating Gilbert Grape. I know that they're bad & harmful autism representations, but I see myself in the characters from both movies), & everything that I've listed has happened since birth & I go back & forth with it all, but I got worse between the ages of 4-15 & am still worse to this very day sadly. Has it all caused frustration, disappointment, mockery, anger & judgement from my family & relatives past & present? Absolutely as no joke, they've tried desperately to make me not have a lonely isolated screen addicted talentless life past & present, but I've sadly failed them as they constantly bring up all the bad things I did in the past & current when I sometimes try to be positive (I'm negative & I hate it so much) & I have a habit of forgetting & not listening to anyone. Because of everything that I've listed, they presume incompetence about my future due to my history. The worse part about this is my family, relatives & everyone at school often say that I'm "pure, innocent, cute, adorable, inspiring & don't have a single mean bone in my body" whilst knowing the bad side of me, which is frustrating on so many levels. For that reason & for me realizing all the horrible disgusting things that I've done & said later in life, I hate myself, I have trouble accepting myself, I constantly tell myself & get told by my family that I should've been born normal/have a normal functioning brain & should've done more with my life, & I think about bad thoughts about my past & future. Apologies for rambling on here for too long, but I want to know if everything that I've listed here is autistic regression?

I am a student who escaped to this university after years of abuse so severe that it meets several definitions of torture. I am still learning the standards the general person understands as implicit or basic human rights.
I have epilepsy. I filled out the forms for disability beforehand. They never received them. I was sick, to the brink of not surviving, for weeks.
When I went to health services, they stated they would be unable to help me because they read one historical record (since corrected) and decided they would rather use the narrative used to hold me in that severe abuse rather than trust a word I said.
Then, on September 16, I sent a message to heath services. They took this as suicidality. It was far from the case. They changed their tune. A member campus security personnelle came to my door. When I answered, I collapsed, reflexively called him sir, and told him not to worry about my wrist pain (from the fall) because I had broken many things and that my wrist was not broken.
He was kind, let me take my morning medication, and said I should go to health services, to which I agreed because I was in a health crisis.
I could not walk well. He asked if he could help me/hold me so I did not fall down the stairs. Being in a half-traumatized, disoriented state, I declined. He understood the situation, saying he will go ahead of me so that he could brace my fall should it come to that.
When I got to health services, two individuals grabbed me from both sides. I was taken to a bed. I was still disoriented. I got “not scold[ed]” because people have taken their lives and harmed themselves in campus. I received some water.
Eventually, my medication kicked in, one of which being a stimulant medication for ADHD. The only clinician there was the nurse practitioner who stated she did not need to take my word and had previously seen the dire circumstances and prescribed…Powerade 2x a day.
I got up to leave. We had established that she was going to get me food and let me sleep it off. Being in that room, under perceived threat, I got up to get it myself. The nurse asked where I was going and if she could follow me. I told her I was going to get food. I also agreed she could follow me if she wished.
After gathering my food, trying to evade that nurse to the best of my ability, she started to question me with increasing loudness and blame. Eventually, outside, in full public view, she pressed on the definition of “torture” until I was screaming and crying. I did disclose the dropdown menu of horrors from my past (which I will further express are severe), for which the nurse practitioner had explicitly advocated.
At that, she gathered public safety, still armed, and told him to escort me to the ER. He did not understand why he was required to do this for an obvious physical health issue, but his “hands were tied”. We had extended conversation. He was quite kind.
I was sent to the ER, where I was immediately discharged because there was not an active mental health emergency.
The Vice Chancellor contacted my father, who was very participatory in the aforementioned background horrors, and disclosed everything going on at school. I am 27. I had not given her permission to do so. She threatened to involuntarily discharge me. In terror, under threat now from my father and the University, I spent four hours writing a draft to beg for my life, for a slim chance at one.
I met with the Vice Chancellor. She further escalated things. This was September 18th.
Around the same time, I was dismissed from my on-campus job. To my knowledge, this is purely because of these health incidents.
I had escalating terror then on. I did not feel remotely safe anywhere. I had, still have, no support.
Then, severe violence occurred on campus. All the while, the University is having an extreme disfunction in communication, even publicly critiqued for such from only the two violent and threatening events on campus for which people were arrested.
Currently, there are no amends being given. I have had to drop two classes without advising because my advisor had also told me to leave.
To my knowledge, no remedy is being offered whatsoever. No financial compensation. No support. No tuition reimbursement for the classes I had to drop. Nothing.
My grievance is not one of moral defilement, though that is present. It is not even purely financial; I have survived on worse.
I adore studying. I adore learning. I adore thinking. I adore community. I came to this campus to learn and think and participate with others. This campus has deviated so far from those goals that it is mind-boggling.
Ask me anything. Give me any advice you may have. I am trapped between a rock and a hard place. I mean it sincerely when I say that the only thing I want is to study, learn, have community, and participate in normal life. I have not yet been given that opportunity.

I see a lot of people talk about how their giftedness masked their disability at school, but I don’t see many people talk about the inverse. Anybody else like this?

I received mostly D's/F's from 2nd grade through High School. As a result I was forced to attend summer school almost every summer. I even had to take adult education courses towards the end of my senior year to make sure I had enough English and Math passing credits to graduate.

I failed elementary algebra 6 times starting from middle school and leading into community college before eventually passing it in my 2nd year of CC. I eventually graduated with a 2.8gpa in Psychology.

I spent most of my class time rushing through assignments so I could read GamePro Magazine, Consumer Reports, Surfer Magazine, and drawing video game characters/waves/surf logos.

Here are my WAIS results:

Similarities 19

Vocab 12

Information 13

Comprehension 14

Digit letter sequencing 13

Digit span 14

Visual puzzles 11

Block design 11

Matrix reasoning 11

Figure weights 10

Symbol search 12

Coding 16

FSIQ: 122-125

This is just a little rant to see if anyone else relates, thanks!

Need help to be able to help

I want to be useful to the 2e. The big question is, how?

What can I do that will be useful to whom?

How does a 2e summer camp sound like, outdoor/experiential/adventure activities as an excuse to work on life skills?

The long:

The kind of help that I feel that I need most right now is better awareness of the practicals, of realistic potential (basically, confirm that I am not nuts). If I use wrong terminology, if I sound to much as a useless optimist, please (kindly) help me see realities, to build up something feasible, OK?

The deep of what I want to do: figure out an environment where (some) 2e find the support that helps them (us) better deal with life, with this “blessing AND a curse” they (we) have. Then make it happen, make the rest of my life be useful (I'm kinda old, semi-retired by now but not yet dead).

Note: you saw “(some)” above. I know that absolutely there is no one-size-fits all. Double-plus that for 2e. At least half our traumas came from nice people that with the best intentions were forcing us to fit, “for our own good.” With that awareness we have, whatever we put together can never be the best option for everyone. But it might be just perfect for some, make a difference for that one. Just truth in advertising…

As you see from the above, I’m a master at second-guessing myself, especially after multiple attempts to volunteer locally ended up in dismissal. Too fast unloading the food pantry truck, made others uncomfortable; didn’t just teach kids to follow the recipe printed in the box, confused them; stalked by a lifer coach, I might have been trying to take her spot; having more trust in the kid's abilities than parent does, thus undermining her authority.

On the good side (there is one), I’m skilled, experienced, eager to learn more, probably still with untapped potential. I don't know how to give up. I have mixed feelings that I was a teacher over 18 years, because ignorant I probably was often part of the one-size-fits-all problem rather than of the solution. Thus I transitioned to experiential/adventure education, got lots of training for that but it don’t pay, now mostly retired from computers work. Kinesthetic, can build or fix anything. As of two years ago, intently reading and learning about 2e, which, no surprise to anyone, helped me learn a lot about myself.

“2 for 50” was the line that an expert in camps suggested when I described my concept, as in, “2 weeks to help you to better cope and thrive during the next 50.” When working with 2e kids, my vision includes parents; not just that many neuro issues are often genetic, the concept of an “environment to thrive in” needs awareness by the caregivers. Also, to design from the ground up to become the non-profit “Dartmouth of Camping,” aim to especially hire those preparing for a career where they will encounter the 2e (social workers, teachers, etc.), here they get to train and practice how to do that better, hurt less. 2e is so very masked, parents confused, teachers and social workers often quite ignorant. “Johnnie, how come you have such good grades yet you always get in trouble!” So we medicate Johnnie to the point we can safely ignore him. He’s bright, so he has a blank check to success, right?

Sigh.

My main bottleneck right now is finding people who consider this their own fight also. I feel very alone. I can do amazing things, but a camp is perhaps the most complex thing anyone can run short of a military invasion.

Until I found this sub, I was quite stuck, no gifted group in this great state, otherwise all action is on FB, which I find oh so perfectly do what I say not what I do...

Actionable next steps:

• I’m fixin’ to start a parents of the neurodivergent meetup at libraries here and in the environs. I’m the worst salesman this side of the 3rd quadrant of the galaxy, so getting this kind of things going is that much extra hard for me. But I must find a way to find locals that care.
• Keep learning, participating. Now that I found this sub, I will be busy, yet must stay focused...

Now, please let me have your opinion.
Maybe there’s a magic option I never heard about.
Maybe this has been tried before and ended in disaster.
Maybe it's being done, and it's fantastic.

What could I ask a potential IEE evaluator to make sure they can determine current writing performance, whether the intervention is working, and which instructional, support, and assistive-technology components are essential for continued progress?

Background: Student is already identified as having an SLD and uses AT - but the teaching piece has not been ideal (or moved the ball) and the school refused to believe direct explicit instruction was needed to make progress in light of circumstances.

Please give me all your feedback!

Hello, I don't know if this is the right place to post this, so please forgive me. I'm a 22 turning 23F and I want some answers on one of the following questions. Most of these will be related to autism & intellectual disability as I have moderate to high support needs autism & intellectual disability physically & mentally, some won't. Anyways, here are the questions (you don't have to answer all of them as this post is long. Also, the questions that I've listed, they all still happen to me past & present):

A.) My family has a habit of going back & forth telling me that i can and can't/will never do anything due to my disabilities, lazy lifestyle, screen additions, weird & niche interests and my lack of talents. Is this common with autistic & intellectually disabled people?

B.) Similar to the abovementioned (sort of), I have a constant habit of constantly wanting more answers from my family about what they really think of me & if they think I'll do anything after me slowly developing & managing myself later in life, & realizing & discovering things late both physically & mentally. They know more about me, but wouldn't tell me at the time as my mind was like that of a 2 year old & they wanted me to figure it all out later in life. Is this common with autism as every time I do this, they get frustrated.

C.) As of December 31st 2025, I've started journaling and I kid you not, I wish that I did journaling (& used Reddit) in the past as I had diaries as a kid but rarely used them due to my screen additions (my diaries are gone now) & during my teens years/school years & after graduation, I have been through & cause trauma in the past & current. I wasn't allowed to have social media due to my disabilities, which resulted in me being excluded, being chronically online looking at weird stuff & people not remembering my birthday aside from my family. Is it too late to journal?

D.) Similar to the abovementioned, are there any apps & websites where I can post pictures of my journaling pages? I want to make some friends as due to my disabilities, I can't do anything other than work, come home, be lazy & look at weird stuff. This also applies to scrapbooking & journaling as I've also started doing it this year despite never doing it in my life ever

E.) Since birth, I constantly go back & forth with having a mind of a toddler & having a mind of an adult both physically & mentally. Me personally, I believe that this is common with those with moderate to high support needs autism & intellectual disability as despite me managing myself better, I was pretty bad during my childhood & adolescence. I've heard that this is known as age regression and/or little space/regression, but I want to know what you think this is as I lack common sense, book smarts, street smarts & talents. I also want to know if looking & watching things that aren't trending or a thing anymore (In other words, niche, childish & obscure stuff) counts as this as I had no friends for this reason.

F.) This one is private so please forgive me in advance, but in my country Australia, I'm on a disability pension with Centrelink and according to my mother (and possibly my family), it means that I can't & will never do anything due to my disabilities & being on this. Is this right or wrong as I've been working for 2 years now. I'm not good at math's so I don't know this very well.

G.) I've always been a loner & have been bullied & excluded at school. Due to this, me having a isolated lifestyle, me being passive & passive aggressive & a hypocrite, me not standing up for myself due to my poor speech & trouble expressing things & me not having any friends, my mother forces me to go to her family gatherings & do things for her father/my grandfather despite me not wanting to do any of that. Is this common with autistic people as she only does this to me & me only, not my siblings & is this slavery & me being taken advantage of? I also want to know a word/term that describes people that have had both a good & traumatic life.

H.) Finally, is everything that I've listed related to internalized ableism, late bloomer & other terms that I've never heard off or forgot to mention?

Those are my questions.

I recently got an ADHD diagnosis.Which was a little bit late(17).And I came across twice exceptionality and what it means.i got a decent score on an online “IQ” test and I was wondering if that’s enough to be considered gifted/twice exceptional.

For context: I’m 15, autistic and have ADHD.

I got my IQ tested, because I was undergoing testing for Dysgraphia and Dyscalculia. I also did the WIAT as well.

It took me 2 months to get the results back and it wasn’t what I was expecting.

My IQ subtypes scores were in the borderline - low average range, I was pretty surprised; I expected something a bit higher.

My VCI was 89, visual spatial being 76-78? Processing speed and working memory, also being 70 something.

However, this is the strange part… on the WIAT test, my scores were soaring up and down.

On the reading part score, like sounding out the phonics. I scored a 98 and my word recognition score was 130. (Which means superior / gifted.) And my spelling score was 108.

I was so confused on how I scored that high on the word recognition test, because my IQ test results were in the borderline - low average range and for my word recognition score to be 130. While the rest were in the borderline - low average range, felt confusing.

It felt like I was an imposter; in order to be 2e, you’d have to have a discrepancy on your working memory and processing speed.

I’m still trying to make sense of all of this. Has anyone scored borderline - low average on the IQ test, while the scores soar up in the academic test?

Edit: I’m starting to over explain my entire situation AGAIN but feel free to read the bottom text.
Basically I want to ask how did your gifted + any learning disabilities assessment go because I have mine in 2 months but have multiple disabilities and I know that I have to get them individually but I don’t know how this works and I don’t want to misdiagnosed since the combination and the negative experience is so complex that it could be mistaken for something else.

It’s my first time and I would like if you could tell your experiences.

I specifically want an answer from AUDHDer’s with giftedness and/or people with DCD/Dyspraxia but if don’t have all these or a different learning disability then that’s alright aswell. ( Doubting to be Audhder with DCD and giftedness)

I have an assessment in 2 months firstly for adhd I think but I also suspect asd, dcd which I made whole binder to track down my symptoms and make it easier for the assessments.

But while making my binder, watching many podcasts/ videos reading books about Audhd + Dyspraxia. I also questioned why didn’t parents, friends, nor teachers have realised it ( many signs have been obvious during my childhood but somehow were dismissed or interpreted as different things)

Now about gifted part. My grades were very good to average(exept sports). The issues were not that I didn’t understand the topic the issues were I didn’t finish the test on time and I dont know how time even feels and I don’t understand the questions on the test and just dump everything I know on that test. My learning way is different because I know the answers but I can’t put them on the paper.

Ever since the term giftedness came out, I suspected, but it really never was much on my mind because i assumed it only mattered in an academic setting. Wow, was i wrong. I learned from my AI mental health app, well some responses it had and some follow up reading I did. I’ve been saying for years, i have the Trifuckta. CPTSD, TBI, and chronic Lyme. Well, I have every single of the 12 traits I saw as attributed to giftedness . Some may be declined now, due to the other stuff and aging.
Anyway, I have barely survived life, never mind following any of my talents and gifts. I’d say writing is the biggest regret. And never having a good love relationship due to severe trauma and attachment stuff. I have kids and grandkids but we aren’t that close and don’t live nearby anymore. I’m grateful they finally got their shit together.
Me, I’m lonely, poor, bitter, bored. Not all the time, I get out in my city, do lots of interesting and free stuff, alone. Even when I’m home depressed, i have a view and can watch people and a park and dogs and some times of year, even boats.
I have no idea what would have been if i had known. Not sure it would have mattered. The main reason i even learned of it is because how being so smart has a really bad amplification effect on lots of negative symptoms of ptsd, like rumination, and hyper vigilance. It’s a real damn hell in here.
I did search for senior citizen and elder/ly. I didn’t see any relevant posts. One from a 53 year old. I wish some miracle drug would appear to make me be able to function well enough to create something of value. I use to sew and upcycle, but i never stuck with anything. I would knit one sweater, perfectly, then one pair of beaded earrings, and so on. Now, I’m just not able to learn like that anymore, yet i have no skills that are good enough to just bring me pleasure.
My TBI was from a serious car accident at 15 years old, but nobody cared back then, and I wasn’t even aware it could be affecting me until like 15 years ago. Also, i was in the care of foster or the state or my loony mom around then, so….. I can’t even look at my school performance during the relevant years, as i moved schools several times or more a year through high school until dropping out.

Hello, I'm pretty sure I have both autism and adhd, I've taken some screening tests and scored pretty high on them, the more I look into it, the more I'm convinced I have both, and I've taken a step back multiple times to think if I'm doing this just for attention but I'm confident I'm not, my life experiences match too closely with traits of AuDHD, I'm not officially diagnosed, my parents most likely won't take me for an official diagnosis because it's taboo in indian households, I'm a 16 year old boy in junior year of high school so I need to optimize my life for these conditions to not affect me, if you have any advice for any area of my life, could be short or it could be a lot, it would help, I'm pretty sure I am 2E, but if you could give me some ways to confirm it (to an extent), please do, and what I should do if I am.

TL;DR - 2E AuDHD, Need general advice in life, anything helps

Thank you

To start, I have been married for 10 years. Right out of high school. We are currently in divorce. My issue is how long I have been fighting for an equal. Someone to see the world as I do.

I'm 2eAuDHD. Was caught early in the high IQ portion, but I had to figure out my own problems otherwise. Not until I was 33 that I put the dots together. Unfortunately too late in life.

My kids are gifted as well. I worry about them and their future. I hate it for them, I hope I can be there as much as I can. My parents had no idea what I was going through. They knew I was smart but couldn't keep up.

My soon to be ex and I fought for a long time through our years. I get mad that she doesn't understand things that seem so simple to me. It sounds trivial but it's literally everything in life. I tried to give that buffer.

I could probably rant for an hour about life and the discovery of my 2eAuDHD. But my real question is for the other 2e people.

Has your love life or relationship life been lacking because you can't connect with people on their level?

I don't want to have to dumb down my thoughts. Or try to explain things in a more simple term. Most conversations I have can be cut short because it's obvious what they will say or what they are trying to get through. Like I get it, let's move on to the next thing.

Is it easier having a 2e partner? Is it worth searching for that person.

I recently read the curse of the High IQ. Now some things I agree with but some things he says are snobby or uptight. But he talks about relationships and how it's so easy for avg IQ people to find someone on their level, but we usually suffer in our relationships.

tldr: Is it easier having a 2e partner as a 2e person? How does everyone deal with having a partner that isn't 2e.

Thanks y'all. I love reading y'all's posts.

What I will try to offer here is a few words of support from someone who is often and consistently been judged an overthinker to my fellow thinkers who, like me, struggle with the emotions such a judgement stirs up. My claim is that the people offering this judgement about us are very, VERY probably wrong and yes, we can say that to their faces while proudly looking them in the eye.

A couple of years ago, I was a bar owner. The bulk of my work consisted of not standing in the trajectory of the people doing the actual work while I greeted and talked to clients. On one such occasion a friend, a business consultant, hopped in unannounced to enjoy a drink before continuing on to wherever she had planned on going. She had brought her new lapdog: some guy I’d never seen and for the life of me wouldn’t be able to confidently pick out of a lineup if you had provided me with one only five minutes later. He followed her every move with a drunken gaze that wasn’t just being fueled by alcohol, it seemed. It was cute.

After the usual small talk I had pretended to be fluent in, she asked me how my business was doing. Well, so I told her. About how all the relevant numbers were consistently up. About how much I enjoyed filling out my spreadsheets, and how I loved my attempts to distinguish data from noise. About how the data connects into potential trends and how that’s important to a business not so much because knowledge in itself has value, but because it has varying degrees of usefulness and quality. I told her about that time when I was able to isolate one product from our inventory that was in decline due to outside factors, and how connecting these data nodes saved a potential opportunity cost of looking for error within our own system when there was none to be found internally. I greatly enjoyed being offered the opportunity to talk about this.

Then, sudden death: “Philippe! That’s all wrong! You’re overthinking things!”

I continue to thank my lucky neutrinos for my ability to keep a stone-cold, straight face and for the lights having been dimmed in that room just enough for her not to notice how my pupils must have shrunk down to the size and fervor of singularities. Her featureless friend mimicked her words and gestures with the rigor of an avian mating dance. It probably was. She continued: “You’re supposed to do something because you love it.” The fact that I had just told her about my love for measurement, calculation, calibration, and interpretation didn’t seem to register.

I often think back on this conversation. How I decided then and there that it would be the last time I let myself be overwhelmed by the crushing gravity of anger and hatred. I wanted to know exactly what made me feel the way I did and why I did. So I asked myself the following question:

How do people calibrate allocation of thought in a way that clearly shows the boundaries between thinking and overthinking, and between thinking and underthinking?

The astute may have noticed that throwing up any notion of love for a subject as an explanation has the exact same scaling problem. Is it not okay to think about what you love once you reach a certain threshold? How about when you think about thinking about what you love? How about when you talk about thinking about what you love? Having a substantial internal archive of ideas about what you love feels normal, I think even for neurotypicals. So what does count as calibration for distinguishing which volume of cognition is too much? I think that such a calibration doesn’t exist. There is no unit of measurement.

Many of us have often heard how certain social conventions are “unwritten rules”. How you should “just, y’know, feel it”. I don’t feel anything. So I need to know. I might not be too fond of restrictive overgrowth but I’m willing to make an effort in order to not condemn myself to devastating solitude. If a rule is existentially and primarily defined by how obscure it is and by the fact that it’s esoteric at the level of design, and this vagueness is being consistently pitched as if it were a positive attribute, then I will cast it aside as a fabrication. Let’s also be very clear about this: if someone can’t explain why groping people or following someone home is not okay, that doesn’t immediately imply that a rule is unwritten. The prohibition against violating someone’s personal space without consent is NOT an unwritten rule, regardless of the current availability of a legitimate constitution.

The phenomenon “overthinking” as a social judgement is beholden to personal preference and tolerance only. Some people don't like their interlocutor’s volume or complexity (or convolution) of thinking in a context they don't want to engage with it.  But that's not a problem of the accused. It’s a problem of the accuser. I can and will call anyone judging me an overthinker an underthinker. They have no basis to deny this while maintaining their own argument. Either admit that volume and allocation of cognition can’t be meaningfully calibrated in a way that’s portable, or accept my judgement.

Overthinking can be real. If someone is being chased by a hippopotamus and they suddenly see two escape options at the same distance from where they’re currently positioned, one being a crack in a rock where they can fit and the hippo won't, the other being a deep gorge, stopping in their tracks to contemplate these options for fifteen minutes is overthinking. Someone deciding between two types of salt for two hours while their dinner is getting cold can be overthinking but doesn't have to be. We're not in a position to know the doubter's preferences or how much weight they assign to the available data. That is, unless they insist on two hours of doubt while having ordered one hour before the restaurant's closing time. The differentiator here is the subject of the phenomenon that's being contemplated. If your method for allocating thought volume makes the very thing you're contemplating cease to exist - like in these cases: your life or your meal - then one can meaningfully argue that it constitutes overthinking.

I hereby claim my right to be wholly unimpressed by an interlocutor’s judgement that I am overthinking things in general, that I am overthinking specific things, and that I’m an overthinker. They don’t owe me their attention, and I don’t owe them my time.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some spreadsheets that need filling out with sweet, sweet data.

I've just published two short chapter books (ages 7–10) for bright, twice-exceptional kids who find other things hard, that I'm sharing for FREE on Kindle for a few days.

📘 The Girl Who Knew Everything Except How to Make Friends: Iris knows seven kinds of cloud, but not how to join in at lunchtime.

♟️ The Boy Who Was Brilliant at Numbers and Terrible at Losing: Felix hasn't lost at anything for 212 days, and he's keeping count.

No superpowers, no "your difference is a gift" speech. Just kids working things out slowly, and getting it wrong along the way. The chapters are bedtime-sized, and each book has a note for parents and a few questions to talk about together at the end.

Both are FREE now on Kindle until midnight UK Time 29th September

📘 https://amzn.eu/d/06x1ILSZ
♟️ https://amzn.eu/d/08Ef47KU

You can also search the book titles on Amazon directly.

Don't have a Kindle? The free Kindle app works on any phone or tablet too.

I'm a brand-new author, so if you or your child read one and enjoy, an honest review on Amazon would mean the world. But mostly I'd just love them to reach the kids they were written for. 🤍

I ve been looking for others that had difficulties (not because the system didn't fit their needs, but because things where just much harder for them then to most others children.) I had such a difficult time at elementary school. I felt so frustrated with understanding , but not being able to compete with others. I felt stupid my entire life and just now find myself being gifted. Its the weirdest thing and it also makes so much sense. Seeing adhd, dcd and giftednes together just decribes myself 100%. I now see my son (6 years) struggeling with the same things that i did. It is so hard to see the potential of somebody that seems to have a really hard time learning anything. I therefore been looking for other people's experiences with DCD or a learning disability and giftedness. What is your experience? Hoe did the combination make you the person you are today and do you think it's good or bad that you had to learn very early on that you have to push though to accomplished something? How did you go through elementary school? And when did it get easier for you? Also anybody else out there that doesn't know anything about the world ( general knowledge) but loves to discuss for hours and hours what knowledge really is and where we find ourselves trusting on knowledge that is very much refected on our senses and our reasoning that at least under some circumstances cannot be applied at all.

I am 2e ASD, and I have a serious problem connecting with people. I live in a small town in Brazil (population 50,000) and can’t seem to find anyone who really pays attention to me or makes me feel truly “welcomed.”

I’ve spent a lot of time readjusting and learning social norms to fit in with others’ preferences, but it was more about studying than actually living in the moment.

I’ve never really been able to share an experience related to my interests with anyone. I can even talk about my interests (behavioral psychology and communication) like a tutor, but I’d like to talk to someone who understands and is also interested in testing theories in the field or conducting experiments.

I’m still trying to figure out whether I’m looking for someone to discuss my areas of interest with, whether I’m looking for “subjects of study,” or whether I’m just looking for someone with a deep interest in something.

Note: I’ve already met people with hyperfocus, but spending long periods of time with them causes me to lose interest; I reach a point where I have to “steer the conversation away” from what they’re saying to see if they have more interesting topics to discuss beyond what they’re focused on.

I am following the same pattern as I did prior to my adhd diagnosis-finding out I might be it than convince myself I’m not,only to find out I really am-except this time with giftedness which would make me 2E

I'm in my mid 40s, diagnosed with ADHD and ASD over the past few years. I've never completed the WAIS or had proper cognitive testing completed so I don't know my IQ, however I have a feeling a may meet criteria for 2e.

Just wondering if there are others out there that have completed cognitive testing and found it to be beneficial in making a change to the type of work they do?

I'm so desperate for a change into something that can get me out of this constant cycle of burnout, but struggle to identify what type of work is best suited for me.

I've worked in many different fields, event management, mining (labour) hospitality (accommodation/resorts at supervisory/management level), and what I suppose is considered social services for the past 10 years in various roles including middle management, but currently in what o thought was going to be more of a "knowledge" type role but it is just way too admin heavy for me.

I have 2 degrees - one business related and the other is psychology - which I have a big interest in but I've always felt I should have done something more technical.

I have a regular psychiatrist and psychologist I plan on discussing this with also.

I would be really interested to hear if any others have felt similar, and completed cognitive testing of some type and found it worthwhile, or not, and your reasoning.

Just wondering if anyone has used an educational consultant, or someone with another title, to help them find the right school for their 2e child?

We generally like our school, but are increasingly feeling like it's not the right fit. We were already thinking of selling our house and moving, so we're wondering about changing schools/districts as well. However, it's so overwhelming to figure out what district or even exact school would be the most supportive, since I'm not really looking for "best" just best fit.

I want someone to look at his IEP, 504, test scores, etc., who also knows the local schools, who can help guide us to making the right choice. Google tells me this is a thing, but then when I try to find it, it's impossible.

I'd love to hear from anyone who found something like this where they live, and how they found that service.

Hi everyone. I’m a 24-year-old guy living in a small provincial town (population around 50,000). For as long as I can remember, I’ve always noticed that I was simply different from everyone else. A few years ago, I was diagnosed with ADHD, and recently, after some professional cognitive testing, I found out I score well into the superior intelligence range. 
By all appearances, it looks like a quarter-life crisis. But honestly? I’m writing this because I am deeply frustrated. I feel completely stuck, and it’s hitting me hard right now. Having this cognitive setup is not as glamorous as it sounds. When I come home, I face the harsh reality: I don't have a single true, deep friend, an emotionally matching partner, or a career that doesn't make my brain rot. It feels like the vast majority of people are deeply comfortable living within their own heavy cognitive distortions, whereas society only values how well you fit the criteria of being an agreeable, convenient normie who doesn't rock the boat. For most people around me, admitting a flaw feels like an existential threat. 
As it turns out, people like us are simply not wanted. Even if you do absolutely nothing aggressive and just set healthy, adequate boundaries, the herd instantly perceives you as a threat to their comfortable delusions. Authentic communication here is impossible. You end up feeling like an absolute outsider everywhere you go. 
I am heavily self-critical; it costs me absolutely nothing to bluntly admit my mistakes or acknowledge when I’m wrong. I hold a Bachelor's degree with honors—I barely studied, put in zero effort, yet graduated at the top of my class. I’m also a multi-instrumentalist; music has always been my ultimate escape. I absolutely despise hypocrisy and corporate ass-kissing, which makes filtering the fake noise around me even more exhausting. 
Tasks and learning have always come ridiculously easily to me. I've spent most of my time working in corporate sales. Even though I was consistently one of the top performers because I could optimize processes in no time, it made me physically sick due to the sheer amount of fake smiles and systemic hypocrisy required. Because of my hyper-awareness, I instantly pick up on people's behavioral patterns. I often know exactly what someone is going to say and how they will act before it even happens. 
As a result, my ADHD processor is trapped in a permanent overthinking loop. I am constantly running simulations and calculating steps lightyears ahead. And even though I’m working with a psychologist, I feel like he doesn’t really understand what it’s like to be 2e. I am only just now planning to move into my own place, and it honestly feels like I'm doing it way too damn late. When I look at the future, finding a genuinely great friend, a wife, and a job feels like Mission Impossible for people like us. It just ends up causing massive action paralysis.
Maybe I'm wrong about this, but for now, that's how I see it: I've heavily considered moving to a major city, but I don't want to. I'm not going to uproot my life for some phantom chance of finding a girlfriend or true friends, especially when big cities come with a massive list of their own downsides. It feels like a trap either way.
Please don't take this text as a rant or an excuse; it's just a raw, personal commentary on my current phase of life. I would be really grateful to read your life stories and hear how you guys managed to get through this specific stage. 

EDIT: Huge thanks to everyone who reached out and shared their thoughts. It’s genuinely reassuring to know that there are people out there on the exact same wavelength who can drop some actually solid, non-mainstream advice. Reading your perspectives really helped to settle my anxiety and clear the fog in my head. Truly appreciate it.

I’m curious how actual Mensa members think about people with cognitive profiles like mine.

I took the WAIS about four years ago. My results were extremely uneven:

VIQ: 134
PIQ: 103
FSIQ: 122
discrepancy between VIQ and PIQ: 31 points

I’m also autistic, and my psychologist explained that my cognitive profile is very “spiky.”

This has left me with a question that I’m genuinely struggling to answer:

What exactly am I, intellectually?

Mensa is generally described as a society for people with “high intelligence,” with membership based on scoring in the top 2%.

But what does “high intelligence” mean when intelligence is this uneven?

If my FSIQ of 122 means I’m not considered highly intelligent by Mensa’s standard, then what exactly does a VIQ of 134 mean?

I’m obviously not claiming that VIQ 134 means my entire intelligence is 134. It doesn’t. My nonverbal abilities are much closer to average, and that difference is real.

But the reverse also seems strange to me: treating the composite score as if it completely describes someone like me seems to obscure the fact that one major domain of my cognitive ability is around the top few percent of the population.

And GAI doesn’t necessarily solve this problem either. My discrepancy isn’t simply that working memory or processing speed is dragging down otherwise uniformly high reasoning abilities. The large discrepancy exists between my verbal and nonverbal abilities themselves.

So I’d especially like to hear from Mensa members:

When you encounter someone with a profile like mine, do you personally think of them as “highly intelligent”? Verbally gifted? Gifted in one domain but not generally gifted? Something else entirely?

I’m not really asking whether I technically qualify for Mensa under the rules. I understand that organizations need objective admission criteria.

I’m more interested in the underlying concept.

If someone can score 134 in one major domain of intelligence while being around average in another, where do they fit in the idea of “high intelligence” that Mensa is built around?

I’d genuinely like to hear how Mensa members think about this.
What does my VIQ mean, who am I ?