I am twice exceptional (2E). I don’t have a problem labeling myself this way. But why is it important and what does it mean?
It’s important because how we function in the world is partly based on our abilities and disabilities, and because the label can help me get resources, and because there are still some people who deny It is even possible, or that 2E people (if we even exist) have any special needs. As for what it means, read on:
Twice exceptionality is tricky in many ways. The first trick is a definition. There are many and, while they all overlap, there are also lots of differences. So, what is 2E?
Wikipedia’s first paragraph is
The term twice-exceptional or 2e refers to individuals acknowledged as gifted and neurodivergent. On literal sense, it means a person (usually a child or student but can also be an adult), is at the same time, very strong or gifted at some task, and very weak or unable in some other task. Due to this duality of their cognitive profile, the strengths as well as weaknesses and struggles may remain unnoticed or unsupported. Also conditions like hyperlexia or precocious development in some aspects, while having difficulties in common or day-to day tasks, these people may frequently face contradictory situations which lead to disbelief, judgements, alienation, and other forms of epistemic injustice. Some related terms are “performace discrepancy”, “cognitive discrepancy”, “uneven cognitive profile”, and “spikey profile”. Due to simultaneous combination of abilities and inabilities, these people do not often fit into an age-appropriate or socially-appropriate niche. An extreme form of twice-exceptionalism is Savant syndrome. The individuals often identify with the description of twice-exceptional due to their unique combination of exceptional abilities and neurodivergent traits. The term twice-exceptional first appeared in Dr. James J. Gallagher’s 1988 article titled National Agenda for Educating Gifted Students: Statement of Priorities.[2] Twice-exceptional individuals embody two distinct forms of exceptionalism: one being giftedness and the other including at least one aspect of neurodivergence. Giftedness is often defined in various ways and is influenced by entities ranging from local educational boards to national governments;[3] however, one constant among every definition is that a gifted individual has high ability compared to their age-level neurotypical peers. The term neurodivergent describes an individual whose cognitive processes differ from those considered neurotypical and who possesses strengths that exceed beyond the neurotypical population. Therefore, the non-clinical designation of twice-exceptional identifies a gifted person with at least one neurodivergent trait.[4
Which raises lots of questions. First, giftedness is, itself, a neurodivergence, but this section implies that it is not. 2E adults are almost deliberately made into an afterthought. What do they suppose happens to 2E kids when they turn 18 or 21 or whatever? Poof! They vanish? No. Then there is confusion about what the “tasks” can be. Do they have to be part of the “cognitive profile” (whatever that is) or not?
Was Helen Keller twice (or more) exceptional? She sure as heck had some cognitive gifts.
And just how gifted, and how exceptional, do you have to be? 80th percentile? 90? 99.9?
Or perhaps it should be about the extent of the difference. I just had some neuropsych testing done and the difference between my best subtest and my worst is so big that only 2 in 1000 people have a larger one. Or maybe one trait has to be high, with at least one other one low? How low?
These are all tricky questions. For some purposes, vague answers are fine. But funding and support may depend on the answers and then, we need something relatively precise.
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