I'm a 19 year old data science major in college that struggles with several disabilities, the two most relevant to bring up being ADHD and ASD. When I was a toddler, I self taught myself how to read (2 years old), and I was using the computer independently at 4 (and self taught myself from a young age how to self type). When I was a kid, I got tested and had an average IQ and performed okay in elementary school (although at times I'd score advanced on state tests), I couldn't even tell left from right or tie my shoes, but some of the more exceptional abilities that I naturally had was being able to type 100 words per minute in like second or third grade and passed a whole semester of typing in 2 weeks, I know that may sound irrelevant, but it's a natural fine motor skill I have had that was well beyond average, today I usually get >99.5th or even >99.9th percentiles in most typing tests. I had very high interests in learning about facts in the world and I remember my teachers got disappointed because I knew complex things but couldn't do simple assignments. I used to write lists and love patterns and classify things into different groups almost everyday that I had time. I would be the kid to collect rocks on the playground at 2nd grade and try to determine what type they were, asking my teacher for a bag to bring them home. In 3rd grade, I was placed in reading courses for struggling students as they were worried about my comprehension. It wasn't until later in middle and high school that I started scoring at the 90th percentile on standardized achievement tests (95th in the state), and getting a 99th percentile in writing and ELA overall on the ACT. My English teacher thought I wrote college level in high school. I actually scored 95th percentile in reading comprehension on another standardized achievement test but some useless other subcategory was lower and my overall score was a 118 in the reading section as a result. In algebra and statistics I started showing very strong signs of above average ability (in certain areas, although my math score was a 115 on a mean 100 SD 15), and I would get bored in class with near a 100/A . In my stats class I did so well that by the time the second semester rolled around I was convinced I didn't need to study and fell behind because of it. I'm in college and I felt like I was ahead of basically all the students in my stats class as I like reading things above my grade level (I'm in elementary stats reading intermediate stats) and my ADHD took over until we started going over some of the harder material, and my study skills were so bad that now to this day I'm behind a bit. I actually had an opportunity for enrichment if I did well on my stats test and I got a 75 mainly because I forgot how to use my calculator and because I was on my phone when I could have easily gotten a way higher grade. I still have a B in the class. I read philosophy and personal finance in my free time and I know a lot of things compared to people my age or even 5 years older (general knowledge about life), although I may never have had the best IQ or academic test scores. The professors in my CS department think I'm gifted, as I think differently and I'm a strong learner. l feel like life is flawed, and that nobody understands me. Whenever I'm given an opportunity to show my potential, it just doesn't come back as showing the talent that I actually have. Although I may have an average IQ, (I don't mean to sound arrogant), I just can't relate to the majority of people at my college because they just care about trendy fake friends and Snapchat and they're all extraverted, i can't relate to them because I'm just not at the same level. That doesn't make me better, just different, in fact I'd even say worse off because of some of the issues I've stated above. I may not have the best test scores but I clearly have a level of talent in achievement and have some fine motor skills that were natural, as well as intellectual ability. My psychiatrist thinks I'm mentally gifted for the reasons I've stated although she hasn't worked with gifted children in particular. I've been shut off by other arrogant subreddits claiming that an IQ test is the only thing that matters, and they only care about a specific type of giftedness. I hope I can relate here.