"Oh I am being so ADHD right now."
"Oops, Sorry. ADHD."
"SQUIRREL... Hahaha I must have like ADD or something."
I know for a fact that either you have said or know somebody who has said the above phrases. That's okay- I totally use it as a crutch, or the ending of a bad joke, but mainly as a crutch when I truly forget to do something... which is a big problem
You see, one thing that people don't realize when they don't have ADHD is that people like me, someone who does, we tend to forget things a lot. We forget that we promised to call you, to make plans with you, to pick up a light bulb at the grocery store (oh but I will come home with a 5 lbs bag of gummy bears and be so proud of my find). It's not because we don't like you, that we are being lazy, that we are being irresponsible. It's truly that we forgot.
This is a huge and never ending argument between Tony and me. "You called and asked if I needed anything from the store, I said lemonade and you still forgot it. So you drove home to tell me you forgot the lemonade but that you were heading back out to the store to go get it. While you are getting the lemonade for round two, could you get a light bulb." Did I bring home a light bulb? No, but I did bring home iced coffee that comes in the same container as the lemonade. Tony didn't find this awesome discovery as amazing as I did.
So why am I bringing this up? Some of you may have heard, I am taking a year off of work to get my masters. I will be getting my masters in Special Education in the field of Educational Psychology, while completing my Educational Diagnostician certificate. Now I know that I am new to this, but my focus that I am most interested is ADD/ADHD. That goes with out saying I guess.
I want to help those who truly do have ADD/ADHD live, learn, reteach and retrain their perspective (most importantly their parent's ideas) to know that they are the 1% that thinks differently. They are the 1% that will see the world in colors. They are the 1% that day dreams. They are the movers and the shakers, who will push buttons, drive people crazy around them, and leave people completely in awe of how awesome and amazing they are!
Here is where having ADHD is a gift: Malcolm Gladwell is the author of a book that I am currently reading. I saw his interview on 60 minutes and instantly wanted to be his friend. With his crazy Kramer looking hair, humble outlook on life, but just brilliantly genius take on life, I felt like he was screaming EXACTLY what I have been trying to tell people my entire life.
His book is called David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. Malcolm Gladwell argues the idea that having the disadvantage actually makes you stronger.
Here is my argument (in conjunction to his): People who have a learning disability, a physical obstacle, or a mental/emotional obstacle sets you back. Or so they say. But in all reality, it makes you stronger. You have to learn how to think, walk, talk, WHATEVER backwards, forwards, and differently. This allows you to see every aspect of everything. You might not be walking like everybody else, but you are leaping two steps ahead with every one step.
Did you know:
Alexander Grand Bell
Napoleon Bonaparte
Terry Bradshaw
Walt Disney
Albert Einstein
Thomas Edison
F. Scott Fitzgerald
John F. Kennedy
George Patton
Bill Gates...
The list goes on and on (click to see the fascinating list) were all Famous People with "Learning Disabilities".
Do you see a label or a stigmata now? How about we relabel them as:
- Genius
- Movers and Shakers
- Revolutionaries
- The greatest minds of our time
- Irreplaceable
- Leaders
- World Leaders
Does that sound like a title you would give somebody with a learning disability? Am I hearing a surprising and long stretched out yeeeeeessssssss.
Your welcome.
So with all that being said, I will leave you with my latest **sigh- guess I have to turn around again**. This morning I went to target to get two things, and only two things: weed killer and stamps. More importantly stamps. I had just spent the last two hours addressing save the dates only to run out of stamps. I pull up to Target and begin talking to my grandmother on the phone. Long story short, after wandering Target for 45 minutes while talking on the phone, including staring at the prices of TV's and realizing that what I think is a good deal on prices I really have no idea, it was time to check out. I put my new swim suit, magazine, DVD connection cord (I lost mine... another story later about how I loose all of my electronic cords), and the weed killer on the belt. As I walk up to pay I realize that OH MY GOSH Target has new credit card swipers. They are so new looking, clean looking, and black- not red! I am then am told that only half of the counters have the new credit card machines, which led me to come up with theories of why that is, all while the poor cashier girl is listening to my ramblings. Needless to say, the whole reason I was at Target was for STAMPS and I walked away, completely forgetting to ask for my two books of stamps. UUUGH... Off to Tom Thumb I go.
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