ADHD Is Not A Gift
It Certainly Doesn't Feel Like a Gift
ADHD Is not a Gift.
I have heard "ADHD is a gift" many times. Regular lay people, advocates and other ADHD people talk about the benefits of ADHD. I have had it all my life, and not once have I felt gifted. I have always felt outside, odd, below average.
I've read many books and articles and absorbed all the information my brain would hold at any given moment and I've listened to why ADHD was thought to be a gift. The whole time I'm thinking...then why does it not work that way for me? To hear laypeople and other persons with ADHD tell it, we are all geniuses. While I do not think I am stupid, I have a hard time comparing myself to Einstein, or any of the others you hear that may have possibly had this disorder. While it could have been true, I think I agree with Dr. Russell Barkley's viewpoint on this. It's kind of common sense. It clicks and I very much see where he is coming from.
He explains that ADHD is not a gift. And to me, he is right. It is not a gift. If it is, I would like to return mine and get someone's money back. I would give anything to be able to get up in the morning with a plan and be able to see it through. Not have to make 20 lists just to remember to do the most simple tasks. Sometimes I feel like I'm in the movie with Drew Barrymore, in 50 first dates. Depending on the severity of the ADHD you have, will depend on how well you can relate to the statement I just made.
Dr. Barkley believes that ADHD is a deficit, and that those who do really well, are the ones that have another particular gift that can compensate for the non working part. It is not the ADHD that gives this person the talent to do a particular thing, but that person is just good at a particular thing because he/she is . He explains that ADHD affects only a few of the hundreds of physiological abilities that we have. He doesn't agree with the ADHD tent, where we roll everything about someone with this disorder, under the title ADHD. In fact he believes it could possibly hinder them in some ways. He thinks people are gifted in spite of ADHD, not because of.
As an adult with ADHD, I cannot argue with his reasoning. It makes too much sense.
He states that if we want to be taken seriously, we need to stop saying we have a gift. It's like saying I have something you don't.
Dr Russell Barkley - ADHD Is Not A Gift
Taking Charge of Adult ADHD
How Do You Feel About It?
ADHD is a gift
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