Watch "Zach Gill - Party Hard" on YouTube

ADD & Me: A Perspective

Watch "ADHD As A Difference In Cognition, Not A Disorder: Stephen Tonti at TEDxCMU" on YouTube

A friend of mine shared this TED video with me. 

I don't know quite why, but I'm glad he did.

Before I had the chance to watch it, I wrote my own thoughts down based simply on the title. Interestingly we pretty much hit all the same points (although I envy his scholastic and domestic experiences) I suppose this really only speaks to the both of us having the same condition.

The best thing about this video for me, isn't the thought that the world might care about any of this. Nope, the best thing for me was the therapeutic value of knowing there are others out there in the world that I might understand... that might understand me. That's a rare thing. 

My  commentary, before watching this is below in blue. My post viewing addition is in red.

One large problem I have with the oversimplified "blessing" (ADD as the source of simply being labeled as a difference in perspective, conducive to seeing what the rest of the world doesn't) is that it fails to recognize that it also comes with the "curse" of being blind to what the rest of the world feels is obvious. Consequently those of us surrounded by "normal" people are then mislabeled as stupid or forgetful, etc. and are written off as a result.

I've found that many people have a tendency to misinterpret and/or disregard as fiction those things that they don't understand for lack of personal experience. These are the people who also want to dismiss the value of medications. To an extent medication is like any tool: The tool doesn't produce anything in itself, it simply gives you the means to do it. What happens after that is up to the user. However, ADD medication did for me what a crap load of anti-depressants never even seemed to touch and turned everything from a singular, ever growing, insurmountable problem into a series of problems that could be resolved individually and in their own time. That's a hell of a tool!  

I imagine the speaker and I have a pretty good difference in age. Our culture's awareness, understanding and compassion has expanded about ADHD since I was a kid. My childhood was a little more complicated (a little uglier) than his, not caused by but certainly complicated by ADHD. When I was kid, I never heard anyone mention anything about ADHD and I didn't get medication if it was available. 

The speaker here rightly notes the physiological concerns involved in medicating children. What I would add however with the benefit of retrospect, is the great personal value that came as the result of learning to first cope with my condition before I could take any medication for it, because in reality it's only a temporary relief that delays its inevitable return.

People don't generally understand that ADD has many manifestations far beyond those few obvious ones I am at ease to kid around about. There is a good deal of chemistry/science backing the cause of ADD and it's relation to Autism, Alzheimer's and Schizophrenia. So while it may not truly be defined as a disorder per se, for those of us forced to live among those considered to be "normal" it is certainly an affliction of sorts. It's not easy for you, but it sure ain't easy for us... It takes a good deal of self awareness and self discipline to amend what comes so naturally. For those of us with the "H" in there it's even tougher because (contrary to popular belief) the "H" is more about impulse control that hyper-activity.

It's commonly acknowledged that most artists (whatever their caliber or medium) have at least some level of ADD at play in their creativity, but most artists worth their salt aren't people you really want to know. For me, part of growing older is accepting who I am and learning to use what I've got to work with it when changing it takes more time & energy than it's worth. It's taken a good deal of experience but I've found that what I see when I'm not on medication, I'm then better able to communicate when I am on it. People generally recognize that taking Adderall makes me more tolerable to them. The benefit is mutual because what most people don't / can't understand is that it makes them more tolerable to me as well, because those differing perspectives can make for some difficult and trying communications.

So once more blessing or curse?
Depends on the approach I guess, but they are usually one and the same in their source.

So that pretty much ends it. He's on the money.