Head in the Clouds

Stigma and ADD

 The challenges that confront people with ADD/ADHD, says Canadian college student Joseph Uranowski, are real and serious. And those problems are only compounded when society tells people with ADD "repeatedly, emphatically and flippantly that their condition is some sort of trifling joke." His blog post on stigma and ADD is worth a read. Gina Pera, author of Is It You, Me, or Adult A.D.D.?, has left an interesting comment on the post as well, about ways to counteract that stigma.

Disability versus Neurodiversity

Are ADD, autism, and the like purely disabilities? Or are they neurological variants that confer benefits, given the right environment? The magazine Brain, Child has a thought-provoking article about this debate in its current issue.

“It was a shock,” writes author Juliette Guilbert, “to discover a subculture intent not on denying my child’s impairment, as I had initially done, but on celebrating it, redefining it as a benign ‘difference,’ analogous to being an ethnic or sexual minority. It was a shock because my child … seemed so clearly impaired. It was a shock because not so long ago, people who couldn’t learn the usual things in the usual ways were subjected not to therapy and medication but to humiliation and abuse.”

The author provides insights on all sides of this debate but also takes a personal approach. After all her musings, I found the last paragraph (about an art lesson) particularly touching. 

The full article (long but worth the read) is at www.brainchildmag.com/essays/winter2008_guilbert.asp. You can also click on “discuss the article” at the end of the piece to participate in a lively and heartfelt conversation.