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Twice-Exceptional
This book is a conversation, a journey through the process of discovering how many realities common to intellectual giftedness and Asperger's/autism have different perspectives and require different approaches. Many themes are shared between both conditions while other aspects are distinct. The book chronicles my own path of research into those nuances, perspectives, and academic or scientific approaches.
People always called me "odd," but I didn't really understand the full scope of that statement. Now I've explored it in this book. I discovered I was intellectually gifted at almost 45 years old. I never thought of myself as particularly intelligent—just that I had a good memory and studying came easily. It's the impostor syndrome that affects any gifted person. Things seem easy to you, so doing them feels worthless. Some things, anyway. Other things strike you as extraordinarily complex. Among those things, in my case, were issues related to the senses—smells, textures, sounds, lights, and especially food. There were also social issues with relating to groups, sometimes involving misunderstanding, sometimes impatience, sometimes simple distance or loneliness in my perspective of the world. And finally, an overwhelming and uncontrollable emotional intensity that no one had ever taught me to identify and manage.
Through research and curiosity, I came across testimonies from people with autism in whom I saw myself reflected, and I wanted to know what was in the gaps that intellectual giftedness hadn't filled in my life. I wanted to learn more about those aspects that giftedness didn't explain. The path was understanding twice exceptionality. Could I be exceptional enough to be both gifted and Asperger's/autistic? I decided to begin a diagnostic process, but that very process plunged me into a sea of doubts and subtle nuances that I found difficult to untangle. I needed to explain them to myself and understand them. The result of that process is this book. It's a text that helps and guides you through a meaningful twice exceptional diagnostic process. So that the process itself becomes so valuable that it remains useful for the rest of your life. Therefore, it's not meant as a substitute for professional evaluation but rather a complement to get the most out of the process. An attempt to shine a beacon of light into the darkness for someone who, perhaps like I was, feels lost in life and can't find the keys to their own home. The home of understanding, forgiving, and accepting oneself.
People always called me "odd," but I didn't really understand the full scope of that statement. Now I've explored it in this book. I discovered I was intellectually gifted at almost 45 years old. I never thought of myself as particularly intelligent—just that I had a good memory and studying came easily. It's the impostor syndrome that affects any gifted person. Things seem easy to you, so doing them feels worthless. Some things, anyway. Other things strike you as extraordinarily complex. Among those things, in my case, were issues related to the senses—smells, textures, sounds, lights, and especially food. There were also social issues with relating to groups, sometimes involving misunderstanding, sometimes impatience, sometimes simple distance or loneliness in my perspective of the world. And finally, an overwhelming and uncontrollable emotional intensity that no one had ever taught me to identify and manage.
Through research and curiosity, I came across testimonies from people with autism in whom I saw myself reflected, and I wanted to know what was in the gaps that intellectual giftedness hadn't filled in my life. I wanted to learn more about those aspects that giftedness didn't explain. The path was understanding twice exceptionality. Could I be exceptional enough to be both gifted and Asperger's/autistic? I decided to begin a diagnostic process, but that very process plunged me into a sea of doubts and subtle nuances that I found difficult to untangle. I needed to explain them to myself and understand them. The result of that process is this book. It's a text that helps and guides you through a meaningful twice exceptional diagnostic process. So that the process itself becomes so valuable that it remains useful for the rest of your life. Therefore, it's not meant as a substitute for professional evaluation but rather a complement to get the most out of the process. An attempt to shine a beacon of light into the darkness for someone who, perhaps like I was, feels lost in life and can't find the keys to their own home. The home of understanding, forgiving, and accepting oneself.
258 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 19, 2026
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