"You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it."
-Robin Williams
Hopefully, this Web site will become a compilation of information and resources about adult Attention Deficit Disorder. This isn't about how to deal with it as much as how to understand what ADD is, though I imagine I will touch on both. Let me know if there is something you would like to see that is not here, or if you have good resources.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Comic Relief
Today's theme--and hopefully I can keep them on my site this time--is missing deadlines. In some careers, missing a deadline can be a death sentence, but it happens to the best of us every once and a while, and apparently to the smartest of us. At least according to this recent column in the Washington Post.
"A local organization is eager to give out some scholarship money, but its members dozed on the deadline to be included in the publicity done by the national group. Having missed the cutoff, they were afraid no one would know about the $3,000 that's burning a hole in their pocket. The group that missed the deadline: Mensa. That's the organization for geniuses."
A word of warning: I am not, I repeat NOT including this to say that people who are geniuses have ADD or vice versa, or even that all people with ADD miss deadlines, just that the column made me laugh. Take a look at the headline: "Even Geniuses Miss Deadlines . . . And Frolic Nude" and tell me you're not smiling. I will pontificate on giftedness and ADD in a bit. But for now, a comic strip from Bill Amend, the writer of Foxtrot when he was nearing retirement from his daily strip:
I am a young professional who was diagnosed with ADD in my last semester of college. I am trying to figure out what that means for me. I have always been successful both in school, where I am graduating Magna Cum Laude, and at work, where I work in high-stress environments, on deadline, and love it. I do display other symptoms: forgetfulness, losing things, disorganization, and tuning out during conversations. More than anything, dealing with being diagnosed has meant figuring out what the label means.
It has recently occurred to me that the title might be construed in a variety of unintended ways. I chose the Robin Williams quote because he is someone who either has been diagnosed with or displays many symptoms of ADD. I did not choose it because I wanted to be disparaging towards ADD. On the other hand, I also did not choose it to celebrate ADD. While I am uncertain about medication or really any kind of treatment as a blanket response to ADD, and while I do believe there are ways that I have benefited from some of the symptoms, I do not believe that ADD is another word for giftedness or that it should be celebrated in that way. In other words, I do not believe in ADD being taboo. I think it is important that people talk about ADD and all other issues surrounding mental health. But I also do not think that ADD should be looked at only positively as a gift while failing to recognize the struggles that come with it. "You are only given a little spark of madness. You musn't lose it," seems to me to encapsulate a complicated relationship with something like ADD. And that's what I want this blog to be about.
Resources: Books, Web Sites, Works Cited
Hallowell, Edward M. and Ratey, John J. Delivered from Distraction--Getting the Most out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder. Ballantine Books. New York. 2005.
Hallowell, Edward M. and Ratey, John J. Driven to Distraction--Recognizing and Coping With Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood through Adulthood. Simon and Schuster. New York. 1994.
Freides, David Developmental Disorders: A Neuropsychological Approach.Blackwell Publishers Inc. Oxford. 2001.
My Little Corner of the Web: An ADD portal of sorts.A bit confusing, but full of good stuff: www.bobseay.com/littlecorner/
Attention Deficit Disorder Resources: Really straightforward portal to readings, articles, FAQs, and resources. http://www.addresources.org/ In their own words the site is described as " national non–profit organization, provides quality information, resources, and support to help those with ADHD achieve their full potential"
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