Is there such a thing as highly gifted seagulls? Yes, there is—one of them is named Carina Clever and is the trademarked mascot of Clever People, the Platform for Giftedness and Neurodiversity. I have always been fascinated by the clever seagulls here on the coast.
Seagulls are very smart and possess an incredible number of abilities, e.g. they can fly, walk, swim and dive. Seagulls love freedom—seagulls are self-determined and do their own thing—seagulls live in groups but also love to do things on their own. If at some point you are asked by your highly gifted child: Are there actually any highly gifted seagulls? Then you’ll know! Seagulls are indeed highly gifted when you take a closer look.
After all, seagulls are also very beautiful animals with their white-grey plumage and their large alert eyes. To put it in a nutshell: from my point of view, seagulls have a great resemblance to highly gifted and neurodiverse people. So it was clear to me: the mascot for Clever People would be a highly gifted seagull. I then had my design idea implemented by a very capable designer in the Netherlands—the result was the clever seagull Carina Clever, which has since been registered as a trademark/design.
Carina Clever—the highly gifted seagull—is allowed to question and say everything at Clever People. She is curious, alert, and critical, and if you explain certain facts to her, she understands them immediately. Carina Clever is also very sensitive and immediately senses when something is wrong.
The highly gifted seagull Carina Clever therefore doesn’t mince her words when she notices that people are saying “stupid stuff,” not making sense, or lying outright. Carina Clever is annoyed by this, because she represents values such as meaningfulness, honesty, sustainability, and fairness. However, the clever seagull does not understand many things that happen between people and why people sometimes treat each other so disrespectfully and laugh at others because they are “different” or have a different opinion.
Here, the clever seagull Carina Clever will add some more contributions in the future, which may be uncomfortable for certain people. But the highly talented seagull Carina Clever is allowed to do that— and she is so cute that no one can really be mad at her 😉 .
Of course, I’m honored to note that various competitors in the “coaching” field are copying my trademarked mascot, or having plagiarized copies made with minor modifications. This shows that the Carina Clever I created in 2018 has struck a chord. Legal action will be taken against some forms of plagiarism, of course.
It’s just amazing and also disconcerting that people who call themselves “highly gifted” or “highly sensitive” and work in the field as a “coach” or “consultant” don’t have their own ideas and have to copy the really bright ideas of professionals like me. Therefore, my advice: Pay close attention to whom you take as a coach—if someone needs to steal the ideas of others, then not much positive can be expected from this person as a “coach/consultant” 😉 .