Is A.D.H.D./A.D.D. A Gift or A Curse?
On the negative side, when someone is diagnosed with A.D.H.D., it is because "things have been going significantly wrong" so that referring to it as a gift "might [be] meet with skepticism."
On the positive side: "[T]here are lots of skills, abilities and characteristics that routinely come with ADHD, and which most people find appealing…."
Source: The Gifts of ADD
"I am among those who wouldn't trade my ADD for anything. I do think that the positives outweigh the negatives–at least for me."
Source: ADD: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
"…as both a[n] ADHD professional and a person with ADHD myself I am really getting tired of hearing about how great ADHD is because for most of us it's not. For most of us who have struggled because of ADHD saying ADHD is great is down right insulting!"
Source: Is ADHD Great??
"Many forms of cancer are curable and many people live long, productive lives even after their fight with cancer. There are several forms of A.D.D.1 and many of these people live long, unproductive lives. And A.D.D. is not curable. Given the choice, which gift would you choose."
Source: Me
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Perhaps A.D.D. is a gift when you are ten years old and your imagination soars. Perhaps A.D.D. is a gift when you are twenty years old and you need to write three papers for three different college classes and so you muster your hyperfocus and finish them on time. Perhaps A.D.D. is a gift when you are in your chosen profession and find that sitting in your quiet, private office is absolutely maddening. Perhaps A.D.D. is a gift when you are expected to sit at your desk for fifty hours each week and your body is screaming at you to get up and move, or get up and talk to another human being, or get up and do some other activity that is NOT the one you are currently doing. Perhaps A.D.D. is a gift when you are expected to defer gratification (though instant gratification is one of the hallmarks of the A.D.D. personality) and you fail miserably at doing so. Perhaps A.D.D. is a gift when it seems the entire world has passed you by and you are STILL trying to figure out, for the fourth time in your life, what you want to be when you grow up.
I believe A.D.D. is a gift because to see it for what it truly is - the incurable curse - is too depressing. I will give back this gift in a heart beat. I will trade this gift for a bit less intelligence. I will trade this gift for a bit more sleep. I will trade this gift for a bit more stability in my life.
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I posted the following poem in September 2007 under the title "Not A.D.D."
I don’t want to be me.
I am sick and tired of being me,
because being me means being A.D.D.
I don’t want everything I do to be an issue.
I am sick and tired of dealing with issues.
I am sick and tired of being A.D.D.
I don’t want to pre-reflect and post-reflect and self-reflect.
I just want to be.
I don’t want to be A.D.D.
I’ll be an idiot who thinks the world is great.
I’ll be a smiling fool who knows nothing of fate.
I’ll be anything as along as I am not A.D.D.
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(On Dec 21st, 2007 at 10:30 pm)
I don’t know if I consider it a gift but it certainly is not a disability. I hate the way people whine about them being disabled because of ADD. I am no more disable because of ADD than I would be if I had lost four fingers on one hand or I lost a foot in the war. No D stands for disability and a person with ADD is NOT BROKEN. I do have advantages as an adult because of my ADD but I would also have an if I were smart enough to be in mensa. I am just differant thats all.
(On Dec 21st, 2007 at 11:52 pm)
I have begun to ponder the question of why would some people think it is a gift and others a curse. I think it is a function of how it affected your life and when you learned you had this gift/curse. If your experience is more like mine where you discover when you are almost fifty years old that all of the problems you have had in your life can be traced to this “gift,” then you may conclude that this is a gift you would rather not have. (This is, to a degree, the point brought up by Tara McGillicuddy. ) However, if your life is more like that of Jennifer Koretsky who, it seems, discovered fairly early in life (in her 20’s, I believe) that she has A.D.D., well…that’s a completely different story. She did not, and will not, go through the next 25 years (or more) of her life with her eyes closed. (Jennifer’s post on the subject is here. It was this post that got me started on revisiting the gift/curse issue.)
So what affect it has had on your life, what “life skills” you were given by your upbringing and, finally, when you discovered you had this “gift” will greatly influence whether you do, indeed, see it as some sort of gift that makes you different and not disabled, or whether you see it as a handicap of sorts that you wish you could eliminate from your life. So, there really is no right or wrong answer to the question posed by the post’s title.
And thank you for posting a comment.