Gifted adults are largely invisible. One of the reasons very few apply the term to themselves is due to the misconceptions about giftedness – in adulthood as well as childhood. Many adults who have been part of the gifted community, either as children or as parents, still do not acknowledge themselves as gifted. Adults who were identified as gifted children were often not provided information about what it means to be gifted and, as a result, think they have outgrown their ‘giftedness’. For a variety of reasons, parents of gifted children also often fail to identify their own giftedness. Of course, there are many gifted adults not affiliated with the gifted education system in anyway- adults who simply feel out of step and don’t know why but would never consider themselves gifted because of the misconceptions as to what a gifted adult is.
The misconceptions of being a gifted adult fall into two categories: superstar overachiever or incompetent misfit. The reality is more subtle than either of these stereotypes suggests. While some gifted adults struggle and some achieve extraordinary things, most gifted adults are somewhere in the middle.
10 Misconceptions about Gifted Adults
All gifted people:
A gifted adult may or may not conform to a stereotypes but neither stereotype explains or defines what being a gifted adult is. If you have rejected the idea you are a gifted adult based on any of the misconceptions above, I encourage you to reconsider but this time based on information, not popular misconceptions.
