Someone once said, “Be careful what you wish for, for it might just come true.” I thought writing a paper from the personal perspective of an adult living with attention deficit disorder (ADD) , would be a comparatively easy task. I have written about the many unrelenting challenges I face, an infinite number of times, in my head, since being diagnosed in 2000. I believed, without any doubt, this would be a ‘no-brainer.' Yet, the harder I tried, the worse it got and the worse it got, the harder I tried. Here was one situation not even in the best of circumstances, could my skills as a professional writer help bail me out. The assignment was to research and write a paper based on a health or disability issue that significantly affected my life. I plan on drawing from my personal experiences, give examples and show how the problems I face thoroughly are related to adult ADD. Admittedly, this paper expresses more personal issues than hard, cold data, yet does provide the basis for the things I do, by ADD symptomatology.
[...] School was a fiasco. Despite wanting to do good, wild horses couldn't make me understand certain subjects. Even when I knew a topic, the moment a test was in front of me, I had complete amnesia. When the teacher called on me to answer a question, my mind went blank; I became tongue-tied and once again, appeared stupid. On my first grade report card, the teacher wrote does not live up to her potential,” and this stuck with me through high school. [...]
[...] Already fully aware how general and broad a subject matter attention deficit disorder was on its own accord, I unquestionably knew it had to be narrowed down. Besides, the health or disability issue chosen specifically had to be something that significantly affected my life and obviously not every aspect of ADD was relevant; yet so many were. My next excuse was more creative. I claimed my manner of writing necessitated I find some unique angle or distinction, unlike the rest, and I could not write from an old, worn out viewpoint that was beaten to death. [...]
[...] It would be some 30+ years before I knew all the attributes I just described were some of the classic symptoms of attention deficit disorder (Amen 19). No two people exhibit the same symptoms of ADD and specific symptoms in one individual can often change throughout the course of their life, sometimes even seeming to stop, and then returning with a vengeance. All though I now realize signs of ADD were evident in me as far back as kindergarten, diverse symptoms manifested at different times in my life. [...]
[...] Focusing and staying focused on tasks is a problem. Excessive distractibility makes focusing problematic. Screening and blocking out noises and distractions is often impossible. Often a person cannot stop focusing in order to focus on another task and tends to “hyperfocus,” losing track of time and the world. Cluster Regulating Alertness, Sustaining Effort, and Processing Speed. People with ADD often become drowsy to the point of being unable to keep their eyes open. It is related to difficulties in sustaining alertness and not being over tired. [...]
[...] Passing for Normal Attention Deficit Disorder Resources. http://www.addresources.org/article_normal_butts Brown, Thomas E. Executive Functions Describing Six Aspects of a Complex Syndrome. Feb C.H.A.D.D. Yale University Press. Feldman, Aaron. The Primarily Inattentive Type of ADHD: The Lesser Known ADHD. ADDult ADDvice. Vol Issue 1 Winter 2007. http://www.addresources.org Haffey, Mark, and Nancy Haffey. Working Memory and ADHD. ADDult ADDvice. Vol Issue 4 Fall 2007. http://www.addresources.org Hammer, Cynthia. Self-Esteem Issues in Adults with ADD Attention Deficit Disorder Resources. http://www.addresources.org/article_adhd_self_esteem_hammer. Life-Long Consequences of ADHD Aug 2009. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
