Global Gifted,Talented and Neurodiverse (GTN) Awareness Week 2022.
The Potential Trust Potential Blog
What gives me #GiftedJoy?
By Lee Collins.
What gives me #GiftedJoy?… I must admit this had me stumped me on several levels; firstly, I have never really considered myself as Gifted. Or Talented for that matter. Secondly, I can’t honestly hand on heart remember a time when I experienced what could be termed as #GiftedJoy, and thirdly my memories of being an undiscovered Gifted/ High Learning Potential schoolchild making my way through the educational system is more filled with joylessness than joyfulness.
So, where does this leave me? Well on the one hand in a bit of a lather but on the other somewhat optimistic and grateful for finding a likeminded community of peoples from all walks of life who not only recognise giftedness as being a characteristic in its own right, but also understand its complexities and difficulties and are actively working to help other gifted children and adults come to terms with themselves; to the betterment of not only the individual but also society.
So, it feels more than appropriate that working with the Potential Trust and Potential Plus UK gives me #GiftedJoy, but it’s also the feeling that in some way I am making a difference to someone, somewhere in the UK or across the world, and that to me perhaps the essence of my #GiftedJoy is making someone somewhere feel or see themselves in a better way.
And writing! Writing I have come to realise also gives me #GiftedJoy.
What gives you #GiftedJoy? Young or old, big or small, email us us at potentialtrust@gmail.com and let us know! We’ll put some of your responses on our website.
About Lee Collins.
Lee was brought up in Leicester by his mother and father and has an older brother and a deceased older sister. He was educated locally within the state school system, which he left shortly after completing his compulsory education.
Lee is married and has four children, two girls from his previous marriage and two boys from his marriage to Katie. After working as a freelance specialist, Lee now works as a project manager for a telecommunications company based in Manchester, UK.
Lee has many varied interests; these days he prefers to maintain breadth rather than to specialise as he has learned that new experiences help to maintain his balance; the ever-present boredom being never more than a page away.
After most of his life being spent making up for lost time, opportunity and the rigours of chronic depression, Lee has finally reached the point of calm acceptance, stillness and satisfaction with his lot.
About The Potential Trust
The Potential Trust (https://www.thepotentialtrust.org.uk) is a small educational charity set up in 1984 to provide, promote and encourage whatever makes education more interesting and exciting for children of high learning potential – especially those with considerably more than the average share of curiosity, perception and persistence – and to enable them to access events and experiences that facilitate their personal and social development and their creative, artistic and practical skills as well as their intellectual abilities.
To this end, The Potential Trust now has four main areas of work to achieve our mission
Questor Bursaries – The Trust offers small bursaries to children and young people up to the age of 18 from low or lower- income families who have the potential for high attainment in academic or other subjects but who are not achieving at that level and cannot afford to take part in activities that:
- enable them to learn new things and try new challenges
- enable them to explore existing interests in greater depth or gain mastery of a subject
- encourage them to make new friends and improve their confidence and well-being.
Potential Conferences – The Potential Trust runs an annual programme of Potential Conferences on a variety of different subjects relating to learning and high learning potential. A Potential Conference is a professional retreat for a group of up to about 20 people interested in discussing something they are passionate about in this area and that resonates with the aim of the Trust.
Potential Collaborations – As a small charity, The Potential Trust strongly believes in working in partnership with other like- minded organisations who can help it in its mission to make education exciting for children and young people with high learning potential.
Potential Change – in the long term, The Potential Trust seeks to ensure the needs of children and young people with high learning potential in education and in society as a whole are recognised and met and the barriers they face addressed to ensure they receive equity of challenge, experience and inclusion to maximise their potential. This aspect of The Trust’s work includes such as:
- conducting research into different aspects of high learning potential
- raising awareness of high learning potential
- lobbying for equity and inclusion of children with high learning potential in education.
About The G-Word and Global Gifted,Talented and Neurodiverse Awareness Week 2022
Defying popular myths that assume most gifted people are wealthy, white, and will do fine on their own, THE G WORD is a film currently in production that reveals the economic, cultural, and gender diversity of gifted and talented population in the USA at every stage of life, highlighting their educational challenges, social isolation, deep emotional sensitivities, and complex, neurodiverse brains. It puts a face to the physical threats experienced by many in schools and society-at-large, while also revealing a large and lively community of people working hard to meet their needs while challenging the prejudice and trauma that comes with being labeled “smart” in the 21st century.
To find out more about THE G WORD and explore excerpts from the film, click on this link https://www.thegwordfilm.com/home#synopsis
As a result of working in partnership with those in the gifted, talented and neurodiverse community, in 2021 the team behind The G Word launched Global Gifted,Talented and Neurodiverse (GTN) Awareness Week to raise awareness around the world of the rich diversity of this communityh. In 2022, the theme for GTN Awareness Week is Bringing JOY and EQUITY Into Focus. During 24-28th October a programme of webinars, podcasts and discussions will be held on a series of topics related to this year’s theme. For more information and to register click on this link https://www.thegwordfilm.com/gtn-awareness-week
#GiftedJoy #GTNAwarenessWeek #TheGWord