Random Musings on ADD

Disability or personality type?

I’m of the personality type opinion for many, but not all kids. Like other personality types, being ADD has its good, bad, and indifferent elements. I also believe that if we continue the trend I see, one day every single personality type will be a medical diagnosis and we will all be diagnosed with some form of disability or mental illness, and most of us will be medicated if we follow doctor’s orders.
I think this is a bad trend.

Do people with the ADD personality type have trouble functioning in some areas? Of course. So do shy people, hyper extroverted people, geeky people, neatniks, Type A personalities, and pretty much everybody else. We just have different areas where our strengths do not shine, and currently our society is set up to squelch and pinch the ADD types. I think the problem lies more with society’s homogenous one size must fit all way of doing things (most illustrated by the public school, and since the public school regimen is now the operation mode for most churches and Bible classes, there, too) is part of the problem. Another problem is the sloppy, lazy thinking (see Amusing Ourselves to Death, again) that permeates our society. In previous ages self improvement and the strengthening of character was a personal responsbility and duty folk took very seriously. Currently the more acceptable approach is to say “that’s just the way I am, I can’t help it,” and buy ourselves presents to make us feel better about it.