Hey Cynical Optimist, kiss my entitled ass.
Referencing this blathering bullshit post You don’t know a god damned thing about ADHD, and to spew out your misguided opinions isn’t going to help anyone.
Do you think I enjoy the fact that for my entire life I haven’t been able to do the things that everyone else did so easily? You don’t know anything about my life.
You think I’m a “slacker”, that ADHD has made my life EASIER? Your ignorance abounds. Let me tell you, if someone had noticed when I was in grade school or middle school that I had ADHD, I’d be the fucking President of the United States. Instead, no one noticed until I was 31. Fuck you and your “entitlement generation” bullshit. I’ve never claimed I was entitled to anything. I’ve worked for everything I have and have advanced through numerous jobs to a position that I love and smile about going to work every day.But I almost got fired from this job that I absolutely love. Why? I work in a laboratory setting and make my own schedule with no direct supervision. That is a recipe for disaster for anyone with ADHD. I was failing to perform necessary tests, things that are so simple that they take 20 minutes if you do them slowly. Why was I doing this? Why would anyone jeopardize a job they love?
BECAUSE THAT’S HOW MY FUCKING BRAIN WORKS!!
I have been fighting my own brain for as long as I can remember, only to be labelled as “lazy”. I never understood why I couldn’t just do the goddamned homework, or finish the project, things everyone else did effortlessly. I accepted the label. I figured I was just lazy and would have to work harder at it. Sometimes that worked, most of the time it didn’t. At the age of 31 I was diagnosed with ADHD, now I am 33, on Straterra, and continuously working on developing routines just so that I can make sure I do all of the things I need to do each day at work. It is not easy. I didn’t miss tasks just because I felt like doing something else “fun”.
I am not a slacker. That is the hardest thing for adults with ADHD to come to terms with. For months after my diagnosis I thought of ADHD as a convenient excuse for other lazy people, bullshit quackery and a “trendy disease” as you stated. It took me a long time to realize that my brain IS wired differently and, what’s better, is that I could CHANGE by recognizing common traps for people with ADHD and using medications designed to fight it. So for you to ride in that thread on your high fucking horse and proclaim ADHD as the slacker disease for the entitlement generation really chaps my ass. Because you are hurting people . You are damaging people that are trying to break a cycle of failure that they have, in some cases, been fighting for decades. You are promoting ignorance.
So kiss my ass. I have to work harder in everything I do in order to succeed, and I will still always be better than you.
I have not read the entire thread that you are referencing, just the post that you linked and so it is possible that I am missing some context here. That being said, I do not see the post by Cynical Optimist some form of a blanket statement about the invalidity of said these conditions, and I also did not see the post as some sort of an attack directed at you.
If I had to guess, I would speculate that you are overly sensitive about this matter and were just looking for someone to attack. Further Cynical Optimist actually brings up some valid points in that these disorders are pretty trendy at the moment, and over-diagnosed (IMHO) and often can really be read as a mispronunciation of “he is a lazy fuckup”.*
*Not that I am saying this is the case with you, or with everyone that is diagnosed.
Perhaps I was a little hasty, upon review. But the main thrust of his middle two papragraphs do strike me as “a blanket statement about the invalidity” of ADHD
The third paragraph stikes me as written by someone who simply does not understand enough about the condition. Yes, I agree that some people become magically unlazy when they engage in something they like, but likewise, ADD folks can sometimes hyperconcentrate on things they find engaging.
It’s not clear to me whether Cynical Optimist knows that or not.
August West I have learned that some (many, most?) people don’t really understand about AD/HD, and many of those people believe they do understand it.
For those w/o in they can’t understand the sharp, apparent contrast beween distractability and hyperfocusing - logically these seem that they can’t coexist, discrediting the ‘disorder’ in their minds.
The method AD/HD is presented to the public is flawed IMHO. A brain wired to constantly seak out a certain level of stimulation, and to lock on to that stimulation when found would IMHO be a better way to present it to the public.
Hell, sometimes doctors that specialize in it don’t fully understand it. My GF’s shrink, who prescribes ritalin to her, told her not to take it before bedtime. What he didn’t grasp is that even though it’s a stimulant, it helps her concetrate on falling asleep. Before she got medication, she would sometimes drink an entire pot of coffee before bedtime.
Not quite. Restate the offending text in more easily grasped terms. For example, “Sure, there really are [black people who work hard], but for every one who does there’s several more who complain about [discrimination] as they [cash their welfare checks].” It’s an offensive remark, and is no less so because it’s about people w/ ADD.
I’m ADD, but without the hyperactivity. Basically, in its normal state, my brain was on “all systems go” all the time. The way it manifested in me, I was usually able to pay attention to things, but I constantly had involuntary thoughts and worries pop up in my head. Usually these thoughts were very unpleasant, often memories of abuse suffered from the other kids in gradeschool. Every day, several times a day. If I tried to suppress these thoughts, I’d just end up having nightmares. It normally took me a hour or more to fall asleep at night because I was having thoughts go through my head at such a rapid-fire pace I simply could not fall asleep, no matter how tired my body was. By the time I was in my teens I started to worry that I might be schizophrenic, a valid worry as my grandfather was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic in his later years.
I got diagnosed with ADD at 23, and am now on Dexedrine, which helps me enormously. No more disturbing thoughts pushing into my head, and I can finally fall asleep within as short as 10 minutes.
While it can be sure there are people who are misdiagnosed, ADD and ADHD are definitely valid conditions.
js_africanus, I wish to disclaim this post by making clear that I am not trying to pick a fight. I really just seek some information. Re: ADHD and the race issue that you use as an example to make it more understandable, it seems to me that both statements only become offensive if they are not factually true, but are instead based on a negative stereotype.
Now if this is the case, if for example ADHD is not being over diagnosed and self diagnosed, and the post being pitted was based on ignorance then I can see the problem. Otherwise, I am not sure what the issue here is.
No, bad analogy. In the above, all those people are, in fact, black.
Cynical’s point was that many people use ADD as an excuse who do not in fact have that brain disorder. It would be closer to saying a white person shouldn’t use discrimination against blacks as a reason for failure. Which of course they shouldn’t.
Whether he’s right about the number of people who do that is another issue, but I don’t see how it’s offensive.
Almost a year before I was pitted? Am I a real Doper now? Ohboyohboyohboy!!!1 Wait a minute, what’s with the goat?!? Ewe, I mean eew…
To emphasize: “If someone has an electrical/chemical imbalance in their brain” then it isn’t a choice, not their fault, and not something they can “turn off” as the OP asked. This isn’t limited to mental issues, take another current board hot-button: if someone is overweight they should reduce intake and increase effort, and if that’s not enough, try one (or more) of several drugs/surguries available. They shouldn’t just say “big bones” and/or “fat in my genes” in between gulps of their Big Mac. If they do, people would rightfully suspect them of excuse-making as they shove another belly-buster down their pie hole.
If someone claims a problem and takes the recommended treatment (sometimes medical, sometimes lifestyle, often both) they demonstrate that they have a problem and are dealing with it appropriately. I have no problem with those people, I’m glad treatments exist in case I or someone I care for ever has the same problem. However, I don’t hear people invoke illness as a reason for 14 hour workdays anywhere near as often (IIRC ever) as 14 hour videogame sessions (or other hobbies, frequently). Those are the people who should raise your ire, trivializing your suffering for their own benefit: “I can’t do it, I have ADD”.
Those who truly suffer aren’t so quick to throw it out as a reason for their behaviour. Due to the stigma that mental illness still carries people generally don’t casually announce suffering from it in person, but for some reason it has become cool to have whatever is “going around”. It seems that there are fads in diagnosis. Why is that? I suspect mass media (“ask your doctor about…”) plays a role, we get regular panics about the fall of civilization, but that’s going too far off topic.
Dude, playing a video game for 14 hours and working for 14 hours are two ENTIRELY different things. You’re using entirely different parts of your brain. With the video game it is visual, fast, and exciting. Working for 14 hours involve doing a lot of the the “left brain” stuff. Some people just have different strengths and weaknesses.
IMO anyone who wants someone to work for 14 hours straight probably have more entitlement issues than the person who refuses. I would never make anyone work that long. I mean, I would have to have at least a little entitlement problem to assume that someone should drop their hobbies, rest, and their family time to work for ME.
If someone’s willing to use an illness as an excuse not to have a job, then I can’t imagine what kind of employee they must be should they have one(and I’m sure a lot of them do). Awful is all I could think of.
Some people can only do a good job if it’s something they enjoy or really want to do. If it’s not, then they don’t do so well. They either do the bare minimum(or as little as they could get away with) or not at all. It’s not necessarily laziness as you could be dilligent in one thing, but not in another, but I don’t think it’s ADHD either. Narrow interests/abilities could be a big factor.
Speaking of ADHD, I agree that it’s an odd illness as it is over/misdiagnosed, but it’s also misunderstood and seems difficult to identify too. Certainly not a fun thing to have.
August West, I understood what you were saying, but you really didn’t have to justify yourself to anyone. Hell, not even the Evercrack people have to and I never saw the need to either, but that’s just me.
In my personal experience as someone diagnosed with ADD, I think some doctors are quite quick to diagnose it. In my personal expereince as a teacher, I think some students are quite quick to use it as an excuse for not doing any work at all.
Unless someone starts producing research or gives a compelling reason why it must not be so, I’ll continue to draw inferences from my personal impressions. Sorry if that offends you.
That is not an excuse, more of an explanation. In order to hold a job, you got to have simple skills and abilities to complete your tasks. Now, with ADHD you lack the ability to stay focused, or you stay focused too much. Both are quite bad. No matter if you’re a cook or a surgeon, in order to do your job efficiently you’re going to need to concentrate on your tasks. The cook could get distracted for 30 seconds and burn up a meal. The surgeon could daydream for a moment and seriously injure his patient. Do you really want these people on the job? The person with an untreated or a poorly treated neurological condition who avoid jobs is far more responsible than those with untreated conditions who seeks one job after another (and keeps getting fired). The person with the condition will ruin his/her reputation and will waste money for whoever they work for.
What’s wrong with that? I think that’s pretty much human nature. Humans are primarily self-interested. To expect people to do tasks/jobs that they hate, or worse, not even good at is insensitive at best.
Another way to look at what may seem to you like a trend to be cool by having the latest mental diagnosis:
In order to remove the very stigma that you mentioned, people with mental illnesses are being encouraged not to hide it or be ashamed of it anymore.
Outsiders who think they can more accurately diagnose or judge are quite willing to become authorities on what is an excuse and what is a mental illness or disorder. They are the ones who impede the progress of removing the stigma. They will shred and humiliate you if you don’t measure up to being crazy enough.
Exactly, and I think it was a percieved hint of that which hit a nerve with the OP. Whether that is what was intended or not, that is how it came across in a way. I can see why the OP was upset at first, I’m not sure if I’d have posted a pit thread myself though.
Then they are doing themselves and others w/ AD/HD a great disservice. Once one knows why they do the things they do it is time to figure out how to function around these ‘limitations’.
Knowing you have AD/HD is not an excuse, not knowing is.