8 years of ADHD Awareness Weeks/days for in the US starting with the original nation resolution in the US Senate in 2004.

Zero ADHD Awareness Weeks/Days in Canada. None at the Federal level. None at the provincial level. None at the municipal level.

But I’m happy to report that on Tuesday, Oct 18th, 2011, The Vancouver City Council declared the week of October 16th to 22nd, 2011 as “ADHD AWARENESS WEEK” at a ceremony at Vancouver city hall.   Mayor Gregor Robertson read out the resolution and I and Parks Commissioner Sarah Blyth who has  gone public on having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder spoke after.

Just before the Vancouver BC ADHD Awareness week proclamation the outgoing Vancouver Poet Laureate Brad Cran in his final speech and poem to council went public that he had ADHD. Great timing! Thanks, Brad. I’ll do a post later on that.

In this post, I’ll show a scan of the proclamation, text of the proclamation, photos and videos of the Mayor, Sarah and I speaking at the event.

Usually it take a several months to get city hall to do a proclamation. But I worked with Vision Vancouver Parks Commissioner Sarah Blyth who had recently gone public with ADHD and Vision Vancouver city councillor Andrea Reimer to get this through on short notice and we were able to make this happen. Thanks Sarah and Andrea.

And thanks to all the city councillors from all 3 parties who made this happen, Vision Vancouver, COPE, and NPA Vancouver.

Here’s the scan of the ADHD Awareness week proclamation, courtesy of one of my Vancouver adult ADD Support Group members.

Thanks  to Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vancouver City Councillors: Andrea Reimer, David Cadman, Ellen Woodsworth, Kerry Jang, Suzanne Anton, Tim Stevenson, Geoff Meggs, George Chow, Heather Deal, and Raymond Louie for helping to support awareness of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Here’s the text of Vancouver city council’s resolution as read out by Mayor Gregor Robertson.

WHEREAS Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopment condition that affects approximately 8% of children and 5% of adults. Every mainstream medical, psychological, and educational organization in the world now recognizes that ADHD is a chronic, impairing and treatable medical condition that deserves the same recognition and access to services as depression or any other mental illness;

AND WHEREAS with Vancouver’s problems with drugs and crime, diagnosing and properly treating it’s citizens with ADHD saves taxpayer dollars and prevents needless human suffering. Research shows 20% or more of drug addicts and alcoholics have ADHD, and 21-45% of criminals in prison have ADHD;

AND WHEREAS Whereas there are high rates of school dropouts, underemployment, work problems, divorce, eating disorders, depression and anxiety with ADHD (especially untreated ADHD);

AND WHEREAS there are many positive characteristics of people with ADHD, especially when properly managed, high levels of creativity and energy, hyperfocus, willingness to challenge the status quo and create something new and innovative. 3 Billionaires, several Olympic gold medalists, artists, and entrepreneurs with ADHD have been very successful;

AND WHEREAS some believe ADHD is over diagnosed, yet one in every two children in Vancouver with ADHD and 9 in every 10 Vancouver adults with ADHD will go undiagnosed and untreated;

AND WHEREAS there is a need for education of health care professionals, employers, and educators about the disorder, anti-stigma campaigns and a need for well-trained mental health professionals capable of conducting proper diagnosis and treatment activities;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Gregor Robertson, Mayor of the City of Vancouver, DO HEREBY PROCLAIM the week of October 16th to 22nd, 2011 as

“ADHD AWARENESS WEEK”

In the city of Vancouver.

Photos of the event

Photo of Mayor Gregor Robertson reading the Vancouver ADHD Awareness Week Proclamation

Photo of Mayor Gregor Robertson Parks Commissioner Sarah Blyth and Adult ADHD Coach Pete Quily who’s still in shock that this happened with the Vancouver ADHD Awareness Week Proclamation

Videos of Mayor Gregor Robertson, Sarah Blyth and Pete Quily During ADHD Awareness Week Proclamation.

Here’s the video of Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson Proclaiming the first ADHD Awareness Week in Vancouver.

Here’s the video of Vision Vancouver Parks Commission Sarah Blyth who has ADHD talking about her experiences with it.

Here’s the video of me talking about ADHD in Vancouver and the need for more resources and of course to reopen the closed after a year long wait list BC adult ADHD clinic at an adult hospital.

Maybe you can help get your city, province or state to declare ADHD Awareness Week for next year? Maybe one day Canada will catch up to the Americans and declare a national ADHD Awareness Week?