HomeOPINIONBeyond stereotypes: ADHD awareness

Beyond stereotypes: ADHD awareness

By EMILY PAOLICELLI
Copy Editor

October is ADHD awareness month, which means that many people across multiple fields will return to the age-old question: is ADHD real?

I can tell you, from personal experience, that there is absolutely no question that it is real. In fact, if a medical professional, educator, psychologist, parent, child, peer, or almost anyone at all, holds the mindset that ADHD is a fluke, a myth, or anything of the sort, I can safely say that they are doing a great disservice to many people in their lives.

According to the most recent data provided by the National Institute of Mental Health, ADHD is prevalent in 11 percent of children, 8.7 percent of adolescents, and 4.4 percent of adults. However, we need to consider why these figures are the way they are. At this point, I would like to bring in two seemingly paradoxical considerations that cause people to question the legitimacy of ADHD: overdiagnosis and underdiagnosis.

When asked to picture somebody with ADHD, I can almost guarantee you that the default body that houses the disorder would be that of an 8-year-old boy, bouncing off the walls, pestering his parents, bringing home report cards with nothing but average grades. Now that you have that image in your mind, picture a typical 8-year-old boy. Do you see any difference?

In a society obsessed with easy answers and quick fixes, it’s almost preferable to classify a difficult young child as having ADHD. A few doctor’s appointments, a trip to the pharmacy, and both parent and child are happy, right?

How about the child who just has a lot of energy? The child who can’t stand sitting pent up in a classroom where the only option for seven hours straight is to sit down, be quiet, and do as you are told? How would you behave if this were the case? And, if you’re willing to get retrospective, how did you?

I firmly believe that this phenomenon of diagnosing children for being children is one of two factors which lead the prevalence of ADHD to decline with age. Most of these children aren’t outgrowing ADHD; they’re simply outgrowing childhood.

In fact, it is impossible to outgrow ADHD, as the disorder has its roots in the biological makeup of the brain– it is known that brains with ADHD present differently on a brain scan than brains without. To imply that ADHD can be outgrown is, in my mind, similar to saying that one can outgrow type 1 diabetes; neurobiology doesn’t change on its own. It is possible for the presentation of the disorder to change with age. I mean, who of us has not mellowed with age? Of course, this is not to say that all children who “outgrow” ADHD are the problem: it’s the parents that are so quick to seek a diagnosis when their children are a bit more of a handful than they had hoped.

Now, what about the other end of the spectrum? I mentioned underdiagnosis, which goes hand in hand with the aforementioned overdiagnosis. Of course, we’re catching all the hyperactive 8-year-old boys and giving the support they need, which is absolutely fantastic. But, and this may be selfish of me to discuss, what about the rest of us?

Looking back, I began presenting with symptoms of ADHD when I was ten years old. I have always been a diligent student, never letting my grades slip below 90s. I very well acknowledge that I got a better deal than most. However, I do hold some resentment toward the dozens of teachers I had in the seven years between my symptom onset and my diagnosis: were none of them able to catch my catastrophic disorganization? My rampant procrastination? My god, how about the incessant talking? The tapping? How about when I, a notoriously avid reader, stopped reading?

I know I am not the only one who has been stymied by stereotyping; in fact, the fact that I received a diagnosis at all puts me among the lucky ones. For all of us who are not the token hyperactive 8-year-old boy, this oversight of symptoms and reluctance to diagnose those who are not outwardly disordered has left us without support for years, sometimes indefinitely, and often in our most formative stages where support is needed the most. Maybe this is just the bias of an education major, but I firmly believe that education and awareness is the key to providing support for all.

A message to all those like me, regardless of age, gender, severity, subtype, or diagnosis: you are not lazy. You are not stupid. You are not a stereotype, you are not faking it, and most of all, you are seen.

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