I can’t draw very well …

I’m sure you’ve heard that people with ADHD are very creative. It’s nice to think that may be true, and it may be true, but it isn’t yet a fact.

A fact is something that current tests show to have a high probability of truth. At one time it was a fact that the sum orbited the earth once a day. Now we know that the earth orbits the sun once a year. It looks like the sun is going around us because earth is actually spinning itself around once a day. That gives us a view of space towards the sun and then a view of space away from the sun.

Since there are no tests to qualify or quantify creativity, there is no way of testing the creativity of anyone. The only test is if they create

Our Shotgun Wedding, donating their time

There are times when you should speak up, and there are times when you should keep quiet. There are times when you should stand up and be counted and times when you should conveniently be in the bathroom when the vote is tallied.

A Friend of mine is on his way to India for a month. He is volunteering to teach Tibetan refugees, that’s what the trip is about. Its a working vacation of sorts, more working, I think, than vacation.

He hasn’t left for India yet, but the work has begun already. He has to pay his way there and support himself while there and my friend is not so well heeled that he can just slap down the cash for a venture like this.

This meal did not cause my ADHD

There was a time when there existed people who disbelieved in the existence of ADHD. I can hear you gasping as you ask incredulously “When?”

Prepare yourselves for a shock, the time … is now. There are still people out there who believe that ADHD does not exist. But that time is fast approaching its end. The proof may never be clear enough for the average person on the street to understand, but its wide spread acceptance by the medical community heralds the end of the time of doubt.

You see, genes have been isolated, risks calculated, detriments catalogued, impairments noted, deficits evidenced. Conclusion? There is a psychological disorder called Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder.

Knowing one of us doesn’t mean you know all of us

They’re out there. You know they’re out there. Those people who think they know all about us ADHDers.

And what makes them such experts? Why do they think they know about us? I don’t know. Maybe they hear things in coffee shops. Maybe they read misleading internet information (I know! I too was recently shocked to discover that not everything published online is true).

Or maybe they make assumptions about all of us based on one or two of us.

I would guess you’re tired of hearing me say that ADHD is a collection of symptoms. But it is, and no two of us have the same set to the same extent, so how could one or two of us be used to define the description of all of us? Well, they couldn’t, that’s how.

I like to think I’m creative, but is it an ADHD gift?

People often refer to the gifts of ADHD, some raving about them and others denying their existence.

I, being the consummate fence sitter, try not to weigh in on the gift question, though I don’t always succeed.

I will say that it is often presented as “gift vs curse” and, in my opinion, that’s wrong. There is no doubt that ADHD is a curse, but if there are gifts involved they are present along side of the curse. Gift and curse are not mutually exclusive.

I love my job …

When I was young, everyone talked like I did where I grew up. Everyone except my father. Well, okay, he talked like everyone else … except when he got excited, then he would slip back into his old accent.

He came from Newfoundland and I thought his accent was neat. It didn’t help that it came out when he was upset. It came out when he was upset with me, trying to lecture me about something he thought I should be aware of. He was less amused when he found out I was amused.

When I first heard my grandfather talk, I realized he sounded like dad when dad was upset, but grandpa sounded like that all the time. The accent is lilting, borrowing much from Irish, Scottish and English accents.

Really big things I’ve done …

We are constantly on the go, jammed into high gear, yet we get so little done. In any given day, we can list dozens of things that we didn’t do, but there’s no list of things we did do. We have the high test, formula one engine, but our tires are bald and we’re driving on ice.

And, as you can imagine, that’s a source of anxiety for us. We are hurtling toward the end of our days and worrying about judgment. Not judgment day, just day to day judgment by family, employers, colleagues, peers, spouse.

… on the spectrum …

It was with a gaping mouth that I began reading tweets that indicated that Adam Lanza had been diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome. I was astounded, but not surprised. I was astounded that this was being released to the media, but not surprised that the media and the public were taking up the cry. And I was even less surprised by the shallow draught of the public opinion that fuelled this new spat of updates on social networks.
In fairness, I was surprised that someone with Asperger’s could have done what this young man is alleged to have done. It doesn’t track. Asperger’s is a disorder that leaves those who have it scrambling to understand the rules of the world. But few, if any, would get up in the morning and wonder if a mass killing would be okay.

Danger is right …

It has come to my attention Here at ADHD Man Of DistrAction, that there is something that has been overlooked in the development of ADHD. A commonality that no one has noticed up until now. It has been shown to be irrefutably true, that all ADHDers breathe air.

‘They’ say (you know ‘they’, they’re cited as proof of theory in every doughnut shop and bus stop from here to the DSM IV) that there are people who have developed the ability to breathe and not have it affect them. Sadly, others who have opted into this habit forming pastime have suffered the rare effect of developing ADHD.

‘They’ aren’t big on statistics, preferring such superior clinical measurement terms as ‘many’ and ‘most’, but it seems like somewhere between ‘some people’ and ‘a whole bunch of folks’ are coming down with ADHD.

Some ADHD Facts (see below)

Why are people being denied access to diagnosis, or even education about ADHD? Why is it not on the initial list of things looked at during a psychiatric evaluation? If it turns out you have ADHD, and not Bipolar Disorder or OCD, you are in a group whose treatment is potentially more effective. If you have ADHD AND Bipolar Disorder or OCD, you are going to need attention paid to all of your mental health issues. If you don’t have ADHD, you’ve ruled out a big area of potential diagnostic confusion.