Too many people now use their diagnoses (even self-applied ones!) as shields for accountability, or excuses, or (worst of all, from a clinical standpoint) cherished identity markers. Your goal should always be to perform as well as you can. Giving people social credit or sympathy or accommodations for their disorders has created a cultural monster: millions of people who are more invested in maintaining their favorite label than they are in being productive or healing.
If it's important to you that everyone know what your diagnosis is, it's probably bullshit - or you're misusing it.
It is refreshing to see someone that understands writing about these topics. There are so many so called experts write about disorders and drugs that have no personal experience on this platform. I take SSRi's. The evil medication they all say. I have for 15 years. It has been beneficial for me. I have only had two providers that I would consider good at their job. The rest tell me how I should feel or react. The truth is everyone's experience is different and they should know that. It comes down to whatever the issue is, it is ours and part of us to live with. It is our responsibility. Your story reaffirms that. Thank you for sharing it.
I have some of those traits, but my childhood predates the ADHD 'pandemic'.
I've been a teacher, so I've seen things from that side. The idea that 'normal' consists of being able to sit in class and meld flawlessly with the other students and the teacher is, frankly, stifling. Some people are good at that, and some aren't. Some can focus on getting good grades with little concern for learning anything. Many of those people become teachers, and the cycle repeats.
Others want to be engaged in a different way. They want to understand how things relate, cause and effect, how things work. Grades are not a focal point. Too little of our educational establishment is able to recognize the desirability of people in this 'other' category.
"I wouldn’t sleep and couldn’t sit still, but strangely, if I really liked a toy, I could sit and play with it for hours as a one-year-old." The only thing strange about that statement is that you found your behavior strange, as if a 1-yr-old liking a toy enough to play for hours is mutually exclusive with often not sitting still. Then you saw irony in the fact that as a child you didn't like noise or other children, but now as a mother you enjoy your own children and other children. You've been through the hormonal changes of pregnancy and you're no longer a child with childish perspective, so no irony exists. "ADHD exists," yet all I read is a description of normal human variation. I'm sorry that the adults round you chose to medicate away your natural inclinations, but your own experience should lead you to warn others of the dangers of performing chemistry experiments on children. You didn't piss me off, as you say, but more disappointment that you haven't realized you've been sold a bunch of malarkey, such as the idea that hyper focus and low attention span exist together in the same person, as if a person can be both obese and anorexic at the same time. Not being interested in many things isn't the same as a low attention span. I am glad you have a family and enjoy motherhood, and I hope you guide your daughter according to her natural abilities and interests.
Our oldest child (he is now almost 27 and an engineer) was identified as being on the autism spectrum when he was 2-years old. There was, however, an optimistic outlook back then that maybe he only had ADHD.
I would love to tell you how accepting most people were/are, but they’re not. Parents must be their children’s advocates and teach them to be themselves and to value their unique gifts.
Today my wife and I just refer to our son as having superpowers and leave it at that because unfortunately most of society doesn’t view such human beings as normal or ordinary—-so he must be extraordinary or super. But if anyone should care to research and identify the greatest human beings in world history, you will discover that they were far from ordinary.
Too many people now use their diagnoses (even self-applied ones!) as shields for accountability, or excuses, or (worst of all, from a clinical standpoint) cherished identity markers. Your goal should always be to perform as well as you can. Giving people social credit or sympathy or accommodations for their disorders has created a cultural monster: millions of people who are more invested in maintaining their favorite label than they are in being productive or healing.
If it's important to you that everyone know what your diagnosis is, it's probably bullshit - or you're misusing it.
https://jmpolemic.substack.com/p/rule-1-you-are-responsible
I agree. People use it as an excuse for poor behavior or as a badge of honor. I don’t like it either.
It is refreshing to see someone that understands writing about these topics. There are so many so called experts write about disorders and drugs that have no personal experience on this platform. I take SSRi's. The evil medication they all say. I have for 15 years. It has been beneficial for me. I have only had two providers that I would consider good at their job. The rest tell me how I should feel or react. The truth is everyone's experience is different and they should know that. It comes down to whatever the issue is, it is ours and part of us to live with. It is our responsibility. Your story reaffirms that. Thank you for sharing it.
I have some of those traits, but my childhood predates the ADHD 'pandemic'.
I've been a teacher, so I've seen things from that side. The idea that 'normal' consists of being able to sit in class and meld flawlessly with the other students and the teacher is, frankly, stifling. Some people are good at that, and some aren't. Some can focus on getting good grades with little concern for learning anything. Many of those people become teachers, and the cycle repeats.
Others want to be engaged in a different way. They want to understand how things relate, cause and effect, how things work. Grades are not a focal point. Too little of our educational establishment is able to recognize the desirability of people in this 'other' category.
"I wouldn’t sleep and couldn’t sit still, but strangely, if I really liked a toy, I could sit and play with it for hours as a one-year-old." The only thing strange about that statement is that you found your behavior strange, as if a 1-yr-old liking a toy enough to play for hours is mutually exclusive with often not sitting still. Then you saw irony in the fact that as a child you didn't like noise or other children, but now as a mother you enjoy your own children and other children. You've been through the hormonal changes of pregnancy and you're no longer a child with childish perspective, so no irony exists. "ADHD exists," yet all I read is a description of normal human variation. I'm sorry that the adults round you chose to medicate away your natural inclinations, but your own experience should lead you to warn others of the dangers of performing chemistry experiments on children. You didn't piss me off, as you say, but more disappointment that you haven't realized you've been sold a bunch of malarkey, such as the idea that hyper focus and low attention span exist together in the same person, as if a person can be both obese and anorexic at the same time. Not being interested in many things isn't the same as a low attention span. I am glad you have a family and enjoy motherhood, and I hope you guide your daughter according to her natural abilities and interests.
Thank you for your perspective
Thank you for sharing your story.
Our oldest child (he is now almost 27 and an engineer) was identified as being on the autism spectrum when he was 2-years old. There was, however, an optimistic outlook back then that maybe he only had ADHD.
I would love to tell you how accepting most people were/are, but they’re not. Parents must be their children’s advocates and teach them to be themselves and to value their unique gifts.
Today my wife and I just refer to our son as having superpowers and leave it at that because unfortunately most of society doesn’t view such human beings as normal or ordinary—-so he must be extraordinary or super. But if anyone should care to research and identify the greatest human beings in world history, you will discover that they were far from ordinary.
There is no science that shows vaccines cause Autism ...except in these published studies which show vaccines cause Autism:
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3878266/
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21623535
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25377033
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24995277
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12145534
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21058170
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22099159
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3364648/
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17454560
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19106436
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3774468/
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3697751/
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21299355
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21907498
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11339848
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17674242
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21993250
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15780490
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12933322
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16870260
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19043938
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12142947
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24675092
Causal relationship between vaccine induced immunity and autism
▪️ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12849883
Subtle DNA changes and the overuse of vaccines in autism
▪️http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3364648/