[contingencies]

I read the article. In my reading it implied the whole family were disabled, the parents housebound, and that for half of his life the kid was effectively permanently engaged in self-directed business-linked study outside of the house.

[bequanna]

Was there any indication that this kid would have been happier or “better off” in any other situation?

It sounds like he thrived in the specific set of conditions that he was raised in. Would that be true if he had grown up middle class and went to a traditional public school and force-fed common core nonsense?

[JeremyNT]

I mean, my daughter goes to public school, leading a mostly "cookie cutter" existence, and several of her peers who she interacts with there have memberships in a swimming pool of some sort or another.

Given that we wanted her to be able to swim with them, we paid a professional to give her swimming lessons.

She's now 11, but any time in the last ~5 years, tipping over in a canoe or kayak would not have been fatal for her (even without a life vest).