IS IT A DISABILITY, A HANDICAP OR WHAT?

By Rick Green

Doctors and scientists call it ADHD/ADD. But what do you call it? How do you view it? William asked me if I view my ADHD as a disability or a handicap. He was asking in the comment stream after I blogged about taking a moment to review 2011 and celebrate your successes. Something I haven’t yet done myself! Ha! You can read my reply, here.

It’s an interesting question, one that instantly has me questioning… are those the only two choices? Either disability or a handicap? A disability meaning something I can’t do. A handicap meaning something that’s much harder for me than for others. Like a golfer who is handicapped a certain number of strokes to make it more competitive. In which case, the answer to your question is, yes, sometimes it feels like a handicap. And yes, on really challenging days it definitely feels like a disability. Other times it’s a strength. Or rather, aspects of it are a strength. Tuning out of conversations is never going be a strength. Even when the other person is actually boring. Or rude. Read more

Happy 101

By Umesh Jain

I hope everyone has started their New Year with my advice regarding Funny (see Jan 2/12 blog post…). Let us continue our dialogue of humour by understanding happy. Of course, happy and humour have a lot in common but they are quite different in many respects. The purest form of happy that I can depict for you is the Arrivals Gate at the airport. They should have an audience section there for depressed people just to see and feel the happy energy. There is the anticipation, followed by the shriek of acknowledgment that someone has arrived and then the hugs and kisses start flowing. I love the occasional person who kisses the floor. I’m home.

Another place of happy is at the finish line or the medal podium. It is an exhausted happy. Sometimes it is so overpowering that the person breaks into tears of joy. Metthias Steiner of Germany did it the best in the 2008 Olympics on August 20 in the superheavyweight class win for the gold. His wife had just passed away and before she died he said he was going to win the gold for her. Read more

Being vs. Having

By Rick Green

“I am ADD.”
Or…
“I have ADHD.”

How do you express it? Do you tend to say you have ADHD/ADD or do you tend to say, “I am so ADHD.” Perhaps even, “I am totally ADD!”

While everyone is talking about resolutions and new habits for 2012, I want to step back a bit and look at ‘treatment’ and ‘progress’ from a bigger context. A more strategic view. Perhaps one that you’ve never considered before. It’s certainly one that I hadn’t considered until I was confronted by others who had obviously given it a lot of thought.

It was brought to my attention that when I’m giving presentations or workshops about ADHD I tend to use the phrases, “I have ADHD” and “I am ADHD” somewhat interchangeably. At least, I have in the past.

But to many people, the sentence, “I am ADHD,” comes across as a jail sentence.

Several times this last year after my talk or workshop people came up to talk with me about this. Or to me. Some were quite upset or determined to make sure I understood that what I was saying was wrong. They’d explain, “ADHD is not who you are! We have to stop saying that. It’s something you have! After all, you don’t go around saying, ‘I am cancer,’ you say, ‘I have cancer!’”

At first I felt quite embarrassed. Clearly I’d said something politically incorrect.

But now, I’m not so sure. Read more

Let’s talk humor, seriously.

By Umesh Jain

You have probably noticed that humour is an essential ingredient on Totally ADD which separates it from most of anything you will see related to a mental health issue. At Totally ADD we know that humour is an important and mature defense to deal with life’s pain and suffering. You can quote whatever cliché you want but the truth is that humour works. So we need to talk about it.

First let’s distinguish funny from silly. ADDers are notorious for doing the latter and, when you are a child, you will quickly become ostracized. As an adult, it is hard to do silly and make it work. Rick can do it because he is an experienced comedian as noticed here. Funny, however, is an important and extremely socially productive ability. To tell a joke or a riddle gains you friends and helps you put your life in perspective. Read more

Perception and Culture

By Umesh Jain

I am sure many of you are working through the exhilaration of post-Christmas and Hanukah -Boxing Day madness and getting ready for New Year’s Eve parties (Hint: avoid Bill’s!). This is a time of reflection. You see it everywhere. TV shows, magazines and newspapers summarizing what happened in 2011. I am sure many of you have felt, “Where did this year go so fast?” I know I did. So, let’s talk about Time Perception with a twist.

Having spent time at conferences and with family in Doha, Qatar last week and this week in Nassau in the Bahamas; two quite different cultures, one thing is very obvious… Read more

T’was The Night Before… an ADHD Christmas

T’was the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was on time, not even my spouse.
The stockings were half up, the gifts were half wrapped,
Cause the scissors and tape were buried ‘neath crap.

The children were glued to their laptops, by God,
While visions of new apps danced on I Pods.
And mamma in her kerchief, and still in pajamas
Had just settled her brain, which was going bananas.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clutter
Of lawn chairs, car parts and my rusting grass cutter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore my shin on an old box, and made a deep gash.

Read more