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Gene wrote: <<Offhand, I can't think of any career field in which an
inability to pay attention to what needs to be done when it needs to be
done could possibly be an "advantage." >>
This is a common misperception of both ADD and ADHD. In fact, both
conditions are frequently accompanied by an ability to hyperfocus on
one particular thing of interest, even if the person seems incapable of
concentrating on anything else. This is certainly true of my son (his
"pet" interest is insects)--and to a surprising extent for me, though
I've not been diagnosed with either condition.
If I'm an undiagnosed case of ADD (something I increasingly suspect for
a variety of reasons), it clearly helps me with my editing; my
colleagues frequently point out how many things I catch that they
missed.
Bruce Byfield replied: <<To tell the truth, the poll question surprises
me. Given the tendency to introversion in many tech writers, I would
have thought that Asperger Syndrome and autism would be more common
than ADD.>>
Here's another misperception that needs correcting (not accusing Bruce
of this, btw; just noting that his statement could easily be
misinterpreted). ADD, PDD, and Asperger's are all what are know as
"autism-spectrum disorders", which means that they are collections of
symptoms that overlap broadly with full-blown autism in many areas,
even though they aren't technically autism. The definitions are
surprisingly vague and subjective, and there's still no gold standard
for diagnosis that everyone accepts.
Bruce also added: <<Of course, I'm putting aside the question of just
how widespread such conditions really are. These days, a moment's
inattention is put down to ADD, and a momentary twinge in the wrist to
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome -- a quickness to diagnose (and self-dramatize0
that trivializes genuine concerns.>>
Very much true. My son was diagnosed by the local expert--a
psychiatrist with an international reputation in this field, not a
general practitioner who had been seduced into pushing ritalin like
tylenol by the local pharmaceutical sales rep. We knew the diagnosis
was correct when we put him on the minimum dose of ritalin and he
picked up a couple years of reading skills, reaching a level
appropriate for his age, in the space of a few months. The proof of the
pudding is in the eating, as they say.
Moreover, nobody would have remotely called him "sedated", which is the
classic sign that a child has been wrongly diagnosed, overmedicated, or
both. The classroom teachers who use ritalin to sedate kids they can't
control by other means are a big problem, and the doctors who support
them in such diagnoses without adequate training are possibly even
worse.
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