The Flip Side of ADHD

It is no secret that I am a lab rat. I love the process of research. Given a topic of interest my curiosity races ahead of me and I become a hermit. I pull information from scholar search banks, published journals, and the most random remote areas to piece together a puzzle--then I get to go out and test my idea. I get to ask the question: am I wrong? Absolute thrill of a lifetime is to find out that I am indeed right...or...that I am wrong and I have discovered something entirely new. Ooooh to be that researcher!

ADHD, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, is a one of my research passions. I do not share the opinion of most of my clinical counterparts that every part of this "disorder" is evil. I know the stats, the data, the life outcomes, the information on medication, performance, scholastic achievement, depression and overall impairments of ADHD. I live behind stacks of studies on my desk detailing every one of these impairments. Yet, I still believe that ADHD can be a conduit of many, many advantages: Creativity, risk taking, ingenuity, charisma, perseverance, hyper-focus, resilience, observant, the ability to make complex ideas simple, the ability to piece together fast moving theories and multi-task like nobody's business.

Why would I think this way? Especially considering the countless details of information that tell me otherwise. Because I am ADHD. And as an ADHD woman, mother, wife, student, and researcher, I have learned that there are countless ways to do things....and then there is a way that lends to creativity, perseverance, and multidimensional thinking...I prefer that way. I came across this article: ADD in the corner office: Five Top executives discovered that an LD can be a capitalist tool. This article shares the story of five execs who prove that limitations are often in the eye of beholder:

"If someone told me you could be normal or you could continue to have your ADD, I would take ADD....I'm afraid of taking drugs, blowing a circuit, and then being like the rest of you...I knew I had strengths that other people didn't have, and my parents reminded me of them when my teachers didn't seem them....I can distill complicated facts and come up with simple solutions. I can look out on a industry with all kinds of problems and say, 'How can I do this better?' My ADD brain naturally searches for better ways of doing things." (www.greatschools.org)

I am in the midst of my newest research endeavor. I am dreaming up constructs and methods of research. I am reading about all the ways those before me have tried. Statistics show that a child with ADHD is lucky to make it out of school without failing a grade--but my history tells me that a girl with undiagnosed ADHD can graduate in the top ten of her high school class, honors in college, and now what?? The sky is my only limit--regardless of the statistics.

Even with all of the challenges and the cross eyed looks I get when someone in my field finds out I am ADHD...given the chance to be normal or ADHD...I will take my ADHD any day of the week.

www.greatschools.org article quoted by: Louis Gilman, ADDitude Magazine