Global Gifted,Talented and Neurodiverse (GTN) Awareness Week 2022.
The Potential Trust Potential Blog
What gives me #GiftedJoy?
By Simon.
What gives me #GiftedJoy is when I can use my insights to help others with a problem that they are struggling with. To help them have a view that is more sustainable about themselves and the problem. It is not because I have all the answers but because I can help them reassess what the problem is and where it lies.
For instance an elderly woman I know was struggling with operating her iPad. So much of what is required these days has to be done online hence her need for an iPad. Her struggle was not because she was ignorant or not trying hard enough but because her forté is not computers and as you get older your fine motor skills are not so good. The combination of these 2 issues meant she clicked on something she didn’t mean to and could not find a way of rectifying the situation. Her initial view was that there was something wrong with the iPad.
When I watched her operate the iPad, I explained what was happening and why it was happening, at which point she started berating herself for being useless. Having known this woman for many years I was able to explain that she was not useless, it was just her specialism is not with technical things. Her specialism is more with people and that is her strength and I gave her examples of what she had of what she had achieved. I explained that she is likely to always struggle with things like computers and that is fine in the same way that not every one is good with people.
At the end of the discussion the tension had gone and she felt fine about herself and the iPad.
Sometimes asking for help is difficult because people don’t want to feel stupid, and by admitting that they are struggling with a problem that that they know others can do easily, can build feelings of stupidity in the struggler. Although it is helpful to have the problem solved, they don’t want to feel foolish in doing so.
For people to ask me for help means they trust my capability and sensitivity to problem solve with a positive outcome for everyone. This where I most experience #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 Simon.
Simon was brought up by his mother and father and has two sisters. He was educated privately up to the age of 13 then went to a Grammar school until 16, and a county technical college for three years to take his “A” Levels.
Simon is married with two grown up sons. He and his wife now run their own business together. Simon’s strengths are extremely broad and varied, which in themselves are also his weaknesses because others can either feel threatened by him or do not understand what he is talking about.
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