I have a similar experience of growing as Audhd and not knowing until I was 29, and I totally agree with your argument. Even if some professionals distinguish between the two and associate giftedness with sensory overload and executive dysfunction or use tests that do so, that doesn’t proof that is not ASD/Adhd or both, because it’s just a way to avoid stigma from an ableist perspective based on not enough updated info on these neurodivergences. This is more clear if you see how both labels are used in different countries, like in Spain, where I originally from, where there is now a tendency of diagnosing giftedness over autism much more than in the U.S. I don’t have a very high IQ, but my interests are “intense” and “enthusiastic”, not “obsessions” (obvious ableist language) to give an example. And my social skills are not that bad because I could learned from observation and studying, as one of my special interest also determined by the context where I was raised.

How different my life might have been with the right interventions. I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished, but I would have appreciated a lessening of the burden of masking my way through it all. I want to state unequivocally that everything is easier since my diagnosis, even if it’s just because I’m easier on myself! Being a perfectionist because it’s so hard to measure up is a heavy cross to bear. In August this year, my psychologist (and lifeline) helped me lay that cross down, and my life is measurably better.

Best of luck out there.

I’m a mother of 3 gifted children. We have had other testing done for different neurodiversities and they’ve come back negative. I can confirm that executive functioning / social and emotional skills are all affected for my children due to giftedness. It’s a huge misconception that giftedness is just a high IQ and any challenges must be related to something else. Because giftedness is also a brain based difference with changes to the limbic system and other brain functioning, my children experience many of the challenges outlined in this article.

This is interesting. I’m not sure how gifted I am or am not. The latest IQ test is 135, but that’s honestly not so high. I have AuDHD. My sister has 140+ and dad has 160 with Aspergers. Anyhow, sister doesn’t have sensory sensitivities at all, but she did have social challenges and other delays including very late thumb sucking and wetting the bed far later than me (and I’m younger). She ultimately came down with schizophrenia. I was diagnosed bipolar (I do think I have that), as well as ADHD and ASD lvl 1.

I don’t know what my point is. 135 isn’t profoundly gifted I don’t think. I am finding the idea that AuDHD is gifted to be intriguing. My biggest gift was writing (not showing it here, lol), but from a young age was winning awards and wound up doing it well enough to earn a living in publishing. Still not sure if that’s “gifted”? My sister was much faster learning the piano than I was – that seems more gifted. Although she was terrible with timing and rushed everything, and I was praised for being musical because my timing was very good. I joke that we should have just been one person and we could have been a good pianist.

It’s harmful to pair giftedness and ASD/ADHD as similar in sensory overload and executive dysfunction senses. It’s a way of trying to say an individual may need some accommodations, but to not label them as disabled (which, executive dysfunction and sensory overload are disabling, so is mood regulation).