#5. This post is a part of a series where people answer my anonymous survey question. If you have ADHD but haven’t gone public with it, what would it take to you go public with ADHD?
There are risks and rewards for going public with ADHD AND for staying hidden in the ADHD closet. See this post for context on the series.
Answer 5.
“Disintegration of the Social Stigma surrounding ADHD (and many other mental health disorders). ADHD is not an excuse, but a REASON behind some of our behavior. We feel horrible when we forget the birthday of someone we love, say something impusively that didn’t truly reflect how we feel, never get around to taking out the garbage and someone else ends up doing it for us… we hate it! It isn’t just regular people either. I’ve been to a doctor recently for my daughter and when I mentioned having ADHD she smirked and said “well, probably not ADHD”. You would think that a doctor would respect the diagnosis of another doctor. It isn’t surprising though with all the misinformation on the internet. People “google” instead of looking it up in proper books and read poorly constructed, biased, opinionated “articles” written by any Tom, Dick, or Harry and believe what they read without looking at the the writers credentials or motives.”
We were talking about ADD and my friend said, ‘Someone had to get in those wagons and cross the prairie.’ Everyone has a place in society.
Good one. Yes screen immigrants and explorers and my guess is you’d find a lot of people with ADHD
There is a theory that North America has higher rates of ADHD (than Europe, for example) for just that reason. What sort of people risk everything in search of a better, more authentic life? Who would cross an ocean without knowing what awaits on the other side? People with ADHD!