The advantages of ADD in a high tech world - Lifehacker: "It seems to me ADD and the technology industry is a natural fit. The constant change of the high tech world can be stressful and troubling for some people but it’s often stimulating and energizing for the ADDer. A great source of Dopamine hits. Although, there are no specific statistics a number of other ADD experts I’ve talked to agree with my observation."
Saturday, February 11, 2006
My wife thinks this explains it
Actually I agree with her. My Hyper-ADD has always been a blessing creatively and a drag for the real-world annoyances of mediocrity and slow-moving systems.
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It’s an interesting proposition, that ADD is an advantage in a high tech world...
My first response is to address the term Attention Deficit Disorder as nothing more than pure slander. It’s about the same as saying a fish can’t survive out of water because it’s “dysfunctional”. Here’s a personal perspective: You can’t make a lapdog out of a dog that was born to hunt, and brother, this dog was born to hunt. No amount of smacking me with a newspaper was ever going to get me to come around to a lapdog way of thinking. (I can’t begin to tell you how much trouble this has caused me in my lifetime, nor how proud I am to be just exactly what I am). The term ADD is wildly prejudicial and derogatory.
I dropped out of kindergarten, quit high school after graduating the tenth grade, and made four failed attempts at college, which accumulated maybe a semesters worth of credits. But I design and build my own websites; I write my own copy; work with multiple operating systems; generally understand and work with web applications, as well as web servers; I’m a whiz with Photoshop and competent with Illustrator; work comfortably with MS Office; understand and develop relational databases; et cetera... I’ve been doing all of this for maybe three or four years. I don’t have a deficit, I have a surplus.
As a person who has been labeled as suffering from ADD, I would argue the ten advantages listed in lifehacker are spot on, but those advantages have to be appreciated in a context where they fit, like high technology. Until people understand how these differences do not constitute a handicap, but rather a significant skill set, people like ourselves will be given few resources to help us manage our unique qualities.
Thanks for posting. The links I’ve followed have been helpful.
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