Giftedness isn't about being smarter than everyone else. It's about having a nervous system that's running different software.

Overexcitabilities (imagine all your senses, emotions, and thoughts permanently set to 11). Asynchronous development (picture a 40-year-old's existential dread in a 5-year-old's emotional regulation system). Intensity that others experience as "too much" but you experience as Tuesday.

Now add ADHD. Or autism. Or both. That's twice-exceptional: a Ferrari engine forced through a standard-issue transmission. Incredible processing capability, paired with systems that weren't designed to handle the output.

The word "gifted" makes people cringe. I get it. It sounds elitist. But here's the test: would you cringe at someone saying "I'm autistic"? Both are neurodevelopmental differences. Both come with strengths and challenges. Both are largely invisible and deeply misunderstood.

We've done the work to understand autism as neurology, not a superiority complex. It's time we did the same for giftedness.