Today, Christian Charlier gives us his vision of giftedness through the “gifted interview” and thus continues my new series to share on Giftedness. Thank you, Christian! He is co-creator of My Gifted Network, a community on the theme of giftedness and cognitive diversity in Airbus. He lives currently in Toulouse, France.
.IF I COULD CHOOSE, WOULD I STILL BE GIFTED?
Of course, I would.
.WHAT (MY OWN) GIFTEDNESS MEANS TO ME
A different way of functioning, a different sensitivity, a different relationship to others and life.
.IF I HAD TO CHOOSE AN IMAGE OR A KEYWORD THAT SUMS UP WHAT GIFTEDNESS MEANS
The nuclear power plant has already been taken by Fabrice Micheau so I would say a supernova.
.HOW LONG HAVE I KNOWN ABOUT IT?
I learned about it when I was 48. I’m 52.
.WHAT PHASES HAVE I GONE THROUGH SINCE MY DISCOVERY?
Immediate relief. Research to understand. The decision to do something positive with it, finding peers and going towards others to help them.
.HOW DO I EXPLAIN IT TO SOMEONE WHO HAS NEVER HEARD OF IT?
A different cognitive functioning explaining why we will perform on some subjects and not at all on others; a cognitive gap that can lead to misunderstandings, and finally we are “amplifiers” (sensory, emotionally).
.THE REMARK WHICH BLEW ME AWAY MOST WHEN I TALKED ABOUT IT
During the creation of our network (My Gifted Network) “why are you doing this? “and later on when we talked about innovation “do you think that only you are capable of innovation, does that mean that those who are doing it today are not legitimate? »
.HOW IT CHANGED MY LIFE (TO KNOW IT)
At the same time everything, the relationship to myself, to others, to the organisation and at the same time the fact of learning it does not change one’s life, one only pursues it, with new data. It’s up to us to decide what we want to do with it all. So don’t resign the day after the (IQ) test results.
.WHAT I HAVE ALLOWED MYSELF TO DO EVER SINCE
Trusting my feelings and my resources, taking a lot of distance, letting go and telling me that it’s going to be okay anyway.
.WHAT IT CREATES TO OTHERS WHEN I TALK ABOUT IT
The subject is not appeased because it sends people back to the image they have of themselves and their real or supposed limitations. It hurts egos, touches on identity. So jealousy, fears and fascination relying on false collective beliefs. And sometimes genuine curiosity. By exposing yourself, you pay a price.
.WHAT IRRITATES ME WITH GIFTEDNESS
Those who come here to make a business out of it, without a sincere desire to help. Often they are not gifted themselves. And those who try to create new boxes to classify us, to standardise us, again to make business.
.WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO EMPHASIZE ABOUT GIFTEDNESS
Collective intelligence in living together, enriched by our differences.
.WHAT I PERSONALLY FIND TO BE THE MOST DIFFICULT
Meeting unintelligent people who are not clear with their position in the organisation and who make you pay what you involuntarily send them back (about themselves).
.WHAT I PERSONALLY LOVE
Having found my family, living the intensity.
.MY SURVIVAL AND REBOUND STRATEGIES
There are so many of them, I’ve put together a survival guide that I pass on orally.
.A (MIS)REPRESENTATION THAT I WANT TO CALL INTO QUESTION
The word “Atypical”, which doesn’t mean anything and is heard everywhere.
.WHAT I WANT TO SAY TO GIFTED PEOPLE
It’s going to be okay.
.WHAT I WANT TO SAY TO PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT CONCERNED
It’s going to be okay.
.WHAT I WOULD RECOMMEND TO SOMEONE WHO IS WONDERING
Get a book and if it feels like it is talking about you, take the (IQ) test. And that’s just the beginning of a story.
.THE MISTAKE NOT TO MAKE FOR A GIFTED PERSON
Being in denial.
.MY PROFESSIONAL ADVICE FOR GIFTED
Understand and accept.
.MY PERSONAL ADVICE FOR GIFTED
Deciding to do something positive of your giftedness.
.A BOOK TO READ ON THE SUBJECT
All of them, until you feel like you’re going in circles. That’s how you’re going to map your giftedness, by listening to the neurons in your belly to know what corresponds to you.
.MY OPINION ABOUT THE WAIS IQ TEST
Although it does not measure all intelligence, it is a sufficient but not exclusive condition to validate an operation through fluid and crystallised intelligence. The feedback of the test is often very badly done. There is a lot of information to be learned from it if we try to understand the subtests. It can be criticised, but it is one of the rare tests calibrated internationally and in each country.
.IS IT A WASTE NOT TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE GIFTED?
Of course, it’s a waste of your life.
.WHEN I MEET ANOTHER GIFTED PERSON, DO I RECOGNIZE HIM.HER? BY WHAT?
Speaking speed, emotionality (except for those who have cut themselves off from it), the fluidity of interaction, alertness of gaze, immediate comprehension…
.WHAT DO GIFTED PEOPLE HAVE IN COMMON?
Characteristics, history, values and at the same time we are all different.
.THE CRUCIAL STEPS NOT TO BE MISSED IN THE JOURNEY OF A GIFTED PERSON?
Understanding and accepting oneself, understanding others and accepting that they don’t work like us, understanding the system and accepting that we are not going to save it, working on one’s emotions. And finally the last chapter of the book, looking for what brings us together no matter how we function.
.THE LAST THING I LEARNED ON THE SUBJECT (THAT I’D LIKE TO SHARE)
The forces of the Twice exceptionals, Dys-, ADH/D, ASD. For example, an HQI combined with ADHD can be more powerful than giftedness alone. Each cognitive difference has its specificities and contributions to the world.
.AN INSPIRATION FROM ANOTHER COUNTRY ABOUT GIFTEDNESS
An anecdote: during a meeting with Chinese suppliers, the interpreter came up to me at a break and said admiringly, “you’re at Mensa?” because he saw the sticker on my PC. No one ever asked me that question in France, even for information.
.A WISH FOR THE FUTURE
Let us work on inclusion, let the subject be peaceful. I wish that the education system and businesses will wake up.
.A HUNCH ON THE SUBJECT
It’s going to be long and hard, but at the end of the story it will all work out, if it doesn’t, it’s not the end of the story.
.THE QUESTION THAT I WAS MISSING BUT THAT I WOULD LIKE TO ANSWER?
Female giftedness versus double sentence. Can you imagine an intelligent woman? Is there really a different approach, or is it just a matter of considering each singular construction, of which gender is a part of. Giftedness and sexuality, I’m afraid that here too we are different.
