The ADD Mythology: Conclusion
Notes to the Reader:
- This blog post was written by Betsy Davenport.
- Betsy detests the term “ADDer,” but she couldn’t come up with anything else. As Editor-in-Chief and blog owner, I’ve decided to use the term “ADDer.”
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Putting the Mythology to Rest
So, though the image I have of Athena springing fully clothed from the head of Zeus has always captivated me when I think of it, mythology in the world of AD/HD is just one more hurdle to get over. If it isn’t laziness, then it isn’t superior creativity, either. It’s ironic that the very capacities that make us most human are the ones most strikingly sparse in the ADD brain.
It is an old, old compensation – though transparent – to attempt to feel “okay” by asserting superiority when one in fact feels less than “okay.” However, this is an unattractive, and potentially destructive, feature of our cultural habit of competitiveness. How much more congenial and functional, and friendly, to understand that all people have qualities that are more and less effective, more and less appealing; have areas of excellence and areas of incompetence. The world is so big and so populated, it never occurred to me to learn how to grind my own glasses, or repair the stucco on my house; we need not all do everything well, and there is no call for shame – or false pride – in that.
We are all born, there is room here for all of us, and that’s that. Now go set a timer for something.
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This series of posts was originally published as a column in Addvance Online Magazine, of which Betsy Davenport was managing editor for three years.
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