Dealing with ADHD: Turning a disorder into a tool for success

Staring out the window, I see that the sun is shining, and a bluebird is feeding its young on the tree across the street. Suddenly, I shift my daze and realize I am in Honors English 30. I have to force myself to pay attention, even though the girl next to me is tapping her foot to try to attract my notice. This scene is not unusual to me. Every day is a fight to stay focused, but the battle is worth it, for being in the top 0.5% of my college class while having ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is one of the biggest accomplishments I have ever achieved.

In kindergarten I was diagnosed with ADHD and told I would never be successful without special treatment and medication. That statement motivated me to conquer my disorder and take control. However, finding the correct medication for ADHD is much like finding the answer to a math problem using the guess and check method; while I eventually found refuge in a pill called Concerta, I decided last year that I could handle the disorder alone. Currently I am fighting my own battles on increasingly less potent medication, and doing so was one of the best decisions I ever made.

My academic success is one of my greatest achievements in my struggle with ADHD. The first victory I had was when I skipped from first to third grade. At that point I was given another barrier to break through, my 504 plan. It meant that I could not be graded on spelling, handwriting, or organization. When I found out, I fought to have it removed. While that didn’t happen until junior year, my grades would later reflect the fact that I didn’t need it. Achieving this caused me to tackle the challenges of concentrating in class, avoiding procrastination, and staying on task. I have managed to overcome these trials with perseverance in order to excel.

I was never expected to do as well as I have because of the negativity that is associated with people who have ADHD. For instance, my spelling, handwriting, and difficulty with similar tasks have brought many hurtful remarks. The taunting was tough to deal with at first, but I eventually noticed that if I looked beyond the wall of misunderstandings, ADHD has many positive aspects. WebMD states, “the behaviors that are common with ADHD interfere with a child’s ability to function at school and at home (http://www.WebMD.com).” I whole-heartedly disagree, because if you think of the disorder as a blessing rather than a problem, you quickly discover that there are many great things that can come of these so-called “behaviors.” I observed that people with ADHD tend to think “out of the box,” as well as being very personable, artistic, and extremely motivated. IN his book, The Edison Gene, Thom Hartmann describes how these behaviors associated with children who have ADHD were actually once the behaviors that categorized the alpha males and females in societies. If you think of it that way, you can see how some of these behaviors can be useful. A person’s inability to keep focused on one thing in the room means that they are observant of everything they come around. Or if a person can’t stay on one thought process very long without going off on a tangent means that they might find out something that they hadn’t even dreamed of when they started (Hartmann 20).

The doctors who inadvertently showed me what a great thing my ADHD really is are the same people who told me I would never succeed, fit in, or be independent. My supposed curse is what has enabled me to thrive while being at the top of my class, in addition to achieving many academic honors such as being inducted to the National Honors Society. My ADHD has taught me to strive for my dreams and work hard to accomplish them. It has taught me to be more organized, focused, and to plan in advance. Ironically, it is the reason that I feel I am ready for college. So I suppose the doctors were right in their assumption that I would not be successful on my own, because I could never have accomplished so much without the blessing of my ADHD.

Bibliography

Hartmann, Thom, and Lucy Jo Palladino. The Edison Gene ADHD and the Gift of the Hunter Child. New York: Park Street P, 2003.

WebMD - Better information. Better health. 12 Mar. 2009 .