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Comment by somewhereoutth | Hacker News Reader

It would be nice to see something about gifted people that didn't conflate that with, or allude to, or even mention, ADHD, autism, or other 'neural deficiency'. Some people are just super bright, not just analytically but emotionally/empathically too - get over it.

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Unfortunately, just having done that track, it's hard because _a lot_ of the gifted kids I was in class with had some kind of issue. Maybe not being neurodivergent, but there was a lot of mental health issues and obsessive behavior. Being just a standard human who smart was a minority position. It's interesting to me, because at my university those kids didn't have a high presence at all and I'm not sure if college was just biased against them a la gifted burn out stereotype or if I lived in a bubble

The only unique thing that university provides is access to a unique social network. Meanwhile, those with such issues tend to not want such social experiences, either as a direct result of their issue or as their condition leaves them to feel that they are (and maybe actually are) social outcasts. Why would you, in the general case (there are always exceptions), find them in a university? That would be much like finding vegetarians at a steakhouse.

Maybe the gifted kids that are not neurodivergent are better at avoiding to stand out, and so are more likely to escape notice?

This. I spent a lot of my childhood trying very hard to look "normal", to not stand out. There was a significant amount of playing dumb.

Ironically, this doesn't strike me as a particularly super emotionally/empathetically bright comment.

And on the other side, having autism, ADHD, etc doesn't necessarily mean you're a super smart child prodigy either. Some people have those diagnoses and are just of normal intelligence, just as some gifted people are neurotypical.

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