Posted by XaosSurfer on May 24, 2002, at 17:34:47
In reply to Scared, but hopeful- I was just diagnosed with ADD, posted by DiscoPuppy on May 23, 2002, at 15:54:06
Discopuppy,
This is something I wrote today for another message board. It is my POV about ADD. I am probably in the minority but I don't believe ADD is a disability.
There have been a number of ideas put forward about the nature,
cause and cure of ADD. I thought I would add my 2 cents (1 cent US).I reject the name ADD and I only use it to enable communication.
First, in my experience ADD is not a disorder. I do not think of
ADD as something I need to cure. Depression, for example, is
something I want to cure. Depression is the enemy and I am in a
fight to beat the sucker into the ground. I do not feel that way
about ADD at all. ADD is my strength and the source of my ability
to contribute. We are the creative ones. Give us a box and we will
think outside of it. Give as a horizon and we will look beyond it.
We are the source of new ideas. Have you ever been in a room full
of entreprenuers. ADD city! They don't fit in the corporate world
so they start new businesses.Second, ADD is not a deficit. ADD is a different way of thinking
and a different way of being. It is about something which is absent
but it is about something which is present. A curiousity about the
world. A passion about ideas and what is possible. A refusal to be
limited by the existing structure. We are always exploring.
Sometimes it seems to me that the rest of the world is suffering
from 'LTS' - Linear Thinking Syndrome. They are the ones going in
circles because they just never try to do anything different.Third, ADD is not about attention, it is about focus. The ADD mind
is not unfocussed, it just focuses differently. I am constantly
focussed on 8 ideas at once OR I am hyperfocussed on one thing. If
I am hyperfocussed good luck trying to talk to me. To my wife I
look spaced out but I am not. My mind is working very hard on
whatever it if focussed on.All the theories about the cause of ADD are of no interest to me
since I think 'ADD' has always been a part of the human species and
will always be a part of the species. We are the hunters, the
explorers, the traders, the inventors. Without the ADDers the
species would stagnate.Of course, if the species was all ADDers it would die off very
quickly. Nothing would get done. We would hunt but never cook. We
would explore but never settle. We would invent but never build.
We can't eat a plateful of hot new ideas to nourish ourselves.This is the role, if any, for medications. The meds are a tool to
help the ADDer get stuff done. My mind is always working but I need
some help getting my ideas down on paper in a form that others can
understand. I think the reason it looks like we have an ADD
epidemic is that we are asking our kids to be more structured than
we have in the past. Going to the same school, following the same
structure, day after day, is just no the natural way of being for
the 'ADD' child.The primary challenge for ADD people is not overcoming the symptoms
but learning the understand their strength. It is our gift to see a
different world than most people. We must not obliterate that gift
and cut off our unique contribution. Sure we are a funny lot.
Can't pay the bills on time. Never put the car keys in the same
place twice. Never sit still. Watch 5 TV shows at once. Read one
chapter from hundreds of books. This is how we keep ourselves
going. Boredom is our enemy and we never settle for 'good enough'.
We see what is possible and we expect the world to move in that
direction.The western world right now is very structured and, in relief, the
ADDers stand out. That is ok because if the ADDers don't get busy
this world is going to strangle on its strcutures.Paul
poster:XaosSurfer
thread:107422
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020517/msgs/107534.html