“Today,” my psychology professor began, “we’re gonna talk about the psychology of intelligence: what it means, what it doesn’t mean, the history of the psychology of intelligence, and how intelligence is handled now…”

“Seems interesting…” I boredly thought to myself as I scribbled down a header for that day’s notes. 

“Intelligence is often viewed as something of a virtue…” my professor continued, “The more intelligent you are, the better, right? Well… not exactly…”

“Yeah… I know all of that…” I thought to myself as I wrote, “There are pros and cons to intelligence like everything else.”

Funnily enough, aside from some obscure facts about language and how language on its own separates humans from the other animals, everything my professor was saying that morning were things I’d heard before. I knew about the Dunning-Kreuger effect, and the debunked myth that smarter people tend to be more mentally ill than others, and that exercise was an important component to learning and problem-solving. Simple stuff like that. 

At some point in the class, the professor drew a bell-curve diagram on the board to illustrate IQ test scores and what percentage of people fall into each category (AKA how many people, on average, fall into each standard deviation on the graph). At the far end of the IQ spectrum, the professor explained that only about 2% of the world’s population had an IQ at 130 or above. 

Then she asked, “Anyone here know what it means to be labeled twice-exceptional?”

Meekly, I began raising my hand as I glanced around the room. Everyone just stared ahead at the professor, clueless, so I quickly put my hand down to avoid being called out. I mean… I knew what it meant to be labeled twice-exceptional, because I had been labeled twice-exceptional in K-12, but I wasn’t about to admit that to the class. Or, frankly, to the professor. 

“Well, twice-exceptional is an interesting term.” the professor said, “It’s often given to kids with ADHD and/or Autism in school, as well as kids who may have some sort of physical disability that prevents them from succeeding in a typical school environment. However, in order to be diagnosed- for lack of a better term- as twice-exceptional, students typically have to go to a psychologist and undergo an IQ test. Not only that, but they have to have a genius-level IQ, which is around 130 or above. In other words, twice-exceptional students are students who struggle to get good grades at school for reasons beyond their control, but are otherwise incredibly gifted…”

“Oh fuck… that’s me!” I thought as I stared down at my notes. 

To be honest, I can’t remember what was said for the last fifteen minutes of the lecture, because I was in the midst of an existential crisis of sorts. I knew all about what it meant to be twice-exceptional, but hearing it come from the mouth of my professor hit me pretty hard, in the same way it hit too close to home when my high school biology teacher mentioned Cystic Fibrosis in a lesson about genetics. 

In a way, I felt completely exposed, even though nobody saw me raise my hand two inches above the desk before I quickly put it down. I felt… disturbed… almost. Hearing my professor describe my K-12 experience as a twice-exceptional student so perfectly freaked me out. Simply put, it was a profoundly uncomfortable experience, and I drove home in almost stunned silence.