Individuals

For Individuals

For this section, I decided to format it in a more informal way, as sort of advice from my own personal experience with ADHD paired with my research on the disorder. I myself have it, I have family that have it, I have friends that have it as well; with the diagnosis being so common it’s hard not to know someone that has ADHD, and if you’re reading this it is likely that you or someone close do you does as well. That being said, I think the most important thing to remember (as well as one of the most difficult things to remember) is that nobody is defined or limited by the disorder. In the late 1800s there was a boy born in Germany with ADHD. He was unable to speak fluently by the time he was nine, although he could play the violin by the time he was six and was fascinated with the laws of nature. He hated school, many of his teachers thought he was mentally handicapped, and in his teen years while he was trying to find a way to drop out of school without affecting his chances of attending university when he was expelled due to his negative attitude towards school. His name was Albert Einstein. Obviously, he was not limited by or defined by his inability to excel in a compulsory education system. The wright brothers, who invented the airplane, had ADHD, Bill Gates, Nikola Tesla, Benjamin Franklin, all of whom are household names, also all of whom on all accounts displayed or have been diagnosed with ADHD. None of these people allowed themselves to be defined by the struggles of the disorder, but what they all also had in common brings me into my next point: They did not allow it to be an excuse.

Although living with ADHD is not always an easy thing to do, it is not a choice that we are given. More often than not, those of us with ADHD are born with the symptoms, and we have to learn to deal with them in order to be successful. All the geniuses and inventors with ADHD didn’t magically become those things, they played to their advantages, and managed the difficulties. Einstein hated school, so he took accountability for his own learning, teaching himself geometry by the time he was 12. It is easy to simply say “I have ADHD, I can’t do this” and stop there. For much of my life I fell victim to that mindset. I struggled through middle school and high school with, ultimately, thousands of points lost due to missing assignments, and I performed far below my capabilities, and had to learn the hard way. In my last semester of senior year I failed a class, and had to take a summer class in order to graduate. I did not get to walk across the stage with my friends since kindergarten, I had to spend my summer doing an online class, and the shame and embarrassment I felt was excruciating. That is what it took (and I hope if you’re reading this you can learn in a much easier way) for me to learn that because my brain works differently, I had to take accountability for my learning and do things differently rather than letting it be an excuse essentially for laziness.

Throughout my academic career starting at a very young age, I showed symptoms of ADHD. I was never the hyperactive type, but when it came to inattention and disorganization, I was a poster child. Maintaining focus, planning, managing time, and organizing physical space were all things that I struggled with and still do to an extent now. However, what has certainly helped is knowing and being honest with myself. No two cases of ADHD are going to be exactly alike. Some people may experience a certain set of symptoms, while another person has a totally different set, while a third person experiences both. No matter how you frame it, everyone’s experience will be different. You see online so much pop-psychology about the “best” study or note taking methods or the “secret to paying attention” for people with ADHD, when the truth is those things simply don’t exist. There is some value in those things, and they often come from a good place, but really they’re just click baiting advice from their own experience or from what they read somewhere. The only real “secret” is to know and be yourself and finding what works for you, as well as being honest with yourself, because unfortunately the best thing may not be the easiest thing. For me personally, when it came to note taking, I found that in fact no notes were the best notes for me. If it’s something specific I have to memorize I’ll write it down, most of the time if I try to take notes in a traditional way, I will just get distracted and doodle on my paper or get overwhelmed trying to write and listen at the same time. This does not mean that if you have ADHD you should throw your notebook out the window, it means that because I have ADHD, I should focus on the lecture or the book that I’m reading, and the only way I found that out was through experience. Finding those things that help us focus, or methods of note taking and studying that allow us personally to retain information better can only be found through experience, and again reiterating, honesty with ourselves. If you stop taking notes, be certain that it is because it helps you focus better, and not just because it’s easier to just sit there. And if you find these methods, find a respectful way to communicate them with your teachers, and work with them, because more often than not they do want what is best for you and your learning, but also remember that you know yourself best, and take advice but don’t let other people pressure you into something that doesn’t really help.

Although ADHD can certainly be a struggle, there are also some advantages that it brings to those that learn how to overcome the challenges. The hyperfocus that can arise if we’re passionate about something, the creativity and desire to explore and invent things has been necessary throughout history to get to where society is today, but to utilize those things you have to be able to push through the difficult parts of the disorder. Speaking from experience, I have had to force myself to develop habits, and set reminders, start using a planner (something that is so simple and beneficial but that can be such a challenge), and be careful of what I allow to take up my time. Those of us with ADHD are significantly more susceptible to addiction, whether that is drugs or even social media. Everyone with ADHD is different and knowing and understanding your own brain chemistry and what you’re vulnerable to, knowing what style of learning works for you, seeking real challenge and real reward is the only real solution. Not everyone will follow the same path, but there are a few things that I would tell everyone with ADHD, those being: Figure out some things (even just one thing) that you’re passionate about, go outside, let yourself be bored, and make sure you do things that challenge you. If you can overcome the struggles of the disorder, doing these things can open the doors to the creativity and intelligence of some of the greatest minds and inventors in history.

External links and resources