ADHD: DISABILITY OR SUPERPOWER?
Talk to almost any adult these days and the first thing they’ll proudly tell you is they’ve just been diagnosed as having ADHD. What?! But I thought ADHD was a kind of ‘learning disability’ some kids have and that you showed off your new phone at a party – not your prescription of Ritalin! Obviously attitudes to ADHD are changing – and possibly with good reason.
ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterised by difficulties with attention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity, though symptoms vary widely among individuals. It affects executive function, making tasks like organisation, time management, and sustained focus challenging, but it can also come with strengths such as creativity, hyperfocus, and high energy. Typically, it was diagnosed in children who struggled to focus in classroom situations but now it increasingly is being identified in adults as well.
Be polite? Why? I have ADHD!
Okay, sure some adults might really have ADHD but – boy oh boy there are also some juicy symptoms in there one could cherry pick to use as excuses for impatience or disinterest: ‘Sorry, I have ADHD so I don’t have the patience or concentration to listen to your point-of-view, follow your company rules or sit still in one place long enough to complete any task (unless it’s to a watch a movie or finish a jug at the pub!)’
Plus, as ‘no two people have ADHD in exactly the same way’ you could be running around like a mad thing or sitting still staring into space daydreaming – and have ADHD. This makes it some sort of vague condition like a shapeless sweater that can fit pretty much anyone who tries it on. Little wonder so many people are seizing their diagnosis like a driver’s license or new credit card – because it’s so damn useful!
Is ADHD more common now?
Certainly, more people know about it. In the States diagnoses of ADHD have gone up from around 6% of the population to over 10% just since the ‘90s. Does that mean it’s on the increase? That’s less clear.
In the past ADHD was diagnosed in children who struggled in class situations, with the term: Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) appearing in 1980, although by the late ‘80s this had been tweaked to ‘ADHD’. Then in the ‘90s research started showing that ADHD often persists into adulthood, leading to an increased diagnosis in adults. There’s an argument too that it’s only on the increase now because a lot of adults with ADHD weren’t diagnosed as children and are only just realising it.
It’s Okay to Talk Now
But why tell all and sundry about it? Surely if a warrior informs an opponent about his own weakness, the opponent will use that against him?
It’s easy to argue social reasons for this change in attitude. Ever since the ‘Me! Me! Me!’ decade of the ‘70s in the Western world we’ve become progressively more self-absorbed – Me is more important than We. My problems are everyone else’s too, rather than the other way around. So much so, we now look at the Greatest Generation’s willingness to self-sacrifice for the good of others during World War II incredulously, as though peering through a telescope at alien life forms.
Even in the ‘80s there was still a reluctance to talk about our personal problems as perfectly illustrated by Crocodile Dundee in 1986: ‘If you got a problem, you tell Wally. And he tells everyone in town. Brings it out in the open. No more problem.’
But today the world has changed so much you can even make a living posting your most personal thoughts and issues on platforms like TikTok, and the more posts the better! Thus, whatever dross you can dredge up about yourself, whether it be true or not – it’s all content, baby! Keep those eyeballs sticky!
Couldn’t modern life cause ADHD?
Modern life hasn’t caused ADHD, as learning disabilities have been noted in children long before the Digital Age. The same symptoms of hyperactive and inattentive behaviour were given such onerous labels as Minimal Brain Dysfunction and Hyperkinetic Reaction of Childhood way back in the early 20th century. Although it’s certainly no stretch to see modern life exacerbating ADHD as the same daily bombardment of digital content, fast-paced entertainment and social media that have wrecked our attention spans are probably not helping our ADHD symptoms either.
Could ADHD be becoming the new normal?
Maybe, but what is ‘normal’ anyway? I’m not sure I know anyone who couldn’t easily be plonked somewhere on The Spectrum (although maybe that has more to do with the company I keep!) For example, two teenage girls who sat at my table on the ultra-packed Waiheke ferry I was on, said this in a 2-minute burst:
‘Oo, there’s that 21-year-old perv that’s always hitting on me at the gym! Oh wow, those clouds are Cirrus and that’s Nimbo-Stratus! See this? I got it coz I’m so sick of foundations that look boring on my face. Hey, have u heard this banger on TikTok? And you know, I heard Billie Eilish does surf lifesaving as a sport? (Ed: Yeah? Really? Of all people!) Hey, wanna go to Italy, Greece or whatever and wear those funnyass beige shorts we saw? And I bet we see some sleazebag Italian dude with an ultra-hairy chest!’
ADHD DIAGNOSTIC CHART
1. Talks excessively
2. Easily distracted
3. Difficulty waiting turn
4. Blurts out answers
5. Difficulty with quiet activities
Aha! Obviously, they are both ADHD!
Really? I just thought they were completely normal teenage girls excited to be alive. If they are then I’d have to plead guilty too, as sometimes I get a bit babbly like that too – especially when I’ve had a few! Maybe we all really do have a bit of ADHD.
