[Llamamoe]

This is a common belief people have, especially those with mild ADHD or those who wish to be dismissive of the disorder.

Unfortunately, in reality while there are some very limited advantages, as a whole ADHD is a whole-brain dysfunction where your neurons are literally incapable of maintaining their level of operation as long as in a healthy person, with ALL of your executive functions - all self-regulation, planning, delaying gratification, emotion management, etc - being impaired across the board, not just tuned differently.

Hyperfocus is commonly brought up, but neurotypical people experience it as well. Less often, but also without the compulsive loss of control, while being able to maintain a higher level of effort and work without it at all times.

People also like to claim we'd be better as lookouts or sentries but this isn't true. People with ADHD don't pay more attention to a broader range of things, they're just incapable of focusing it when necessary, not to mention they drift off and get distracted instead of staying watchful far, far more.

That's before getting into the fact that ADHD correlates negatively with pretty much every single life outcome, not just those depending on society - things like neurodegenerative disease, cardiovascular and metabolic problems, sleep disturbance, etc.

I understand the desire to frame things you're experiencing in a positive manner, but... in this case, it doesn't really work, and I somewhat resent it personally, as it makes people less likely to take ADHD as seriously as it needs to be.

[rwyinuse]

For vast majority of human history most people spent their days doing fairly simple physical work, which didn't require that much sustained focus compared to what an average knowledge worker needs today. Obviously they didn't have smartphones, computers and other forms of distraction either. So really it's quite obvious that most people with ADHD would have done much better in such environment, compared to the unnatural mess we live in today.

So, people with ADHD have always existed, but it's our modern world full of distractions and unnatural work which makes it a much bigger deal than it would otherwise be.

[dimal]

I sympathize with this point of view but I disagree. I’m not sure if I’m ADHD, but I’m autistic. I’ve been diagnosed as ADHD in the past, I’m just not sure how useful it is as a diagnosis for me. I have enormous problems with focus and executive functioning. For large portions of my life I’ve been seriously disabled, unable to work or support myself. There are times where I’m unable to talk. And I still don’t see autism as inherently dysfunctional.

If you put me in a village in Europe 5000 years ago, I’d be fine. I’d be better than fine. I’d be the guy in the hunting part who could smell the fresh scat from 50 yards away. I’d be the guy who could remember all the fucking barks and plants and mushrooms that are good for what ails ya. I’d be the guy who knew the story of every god and goddess and why they’re important. Most social situations would involve people I knew very well or people in the same culture, where I could depend on knowing the rules of the culture.

The modern world is full of random noise and stifling bureaucracy. I love being autistic. But it’s awful, truly awful to have this nervous system in this society. The endless stress breaks you down day after day, year after year, and system teaches you to see yourself as inherently broken, when it’s the system that has broken you.

Maybe you’re disabled, but maybe it’s the system that did it to you.

[ddmf]

I'm diagnosed autistic and ADHD.

A lot of my autistic issues are caused by society because they are mostly sensory - bright lights, random noise, synthetic smells.

The social model of disability doesn't cover all my symptoms and issues though, I am very much disabled. Pre diagnosis and medication my rejection sensitive dysphoria would cause me to perceive sleights and fly off the handle very easily.

5000 years ago I would have had a rock to the head.

[ACCount37]

It's copium.

People don't want to think of themselves as of "diseased" or "disabled". So you get this strange phenomenon: people who are completely deaf, or lost an entire limb, and argue quite passionately that they're "not really disabled". Coping.

ADHD screws with executive function, attention and impulse control. All three are incredibly important for a person to function in a modern society. A person with severe untreated ADHD would be unable to hold almost any job. It's a disability.

But admitting that requires the kind of mental fortitude a lot of people simply don't have.

[matheusmoreira]

Framing it as a handicapping disease is not particularly helpful either. ADHD cannot be cured, we have to live with it and cope however we can. Treatment is absolutely an option but we can also change our environment.

People act like ADHD patients are feeble minded and that just isn't the truth. In the right contexts we can also focus quite intensely. Especially with treatment.

It's true that neurotypical people also experience hyperfocus, that's not in dispute. I don't really like these comparisons to be honest. I just think the fact ADHD patients also experience hyperfocus really should make people rethink the pejorative "attention deficit" label.

[scns]

> People also like to claim we'd be better as lookouts or sentries but this isn't true. People with ADHD don't pay more attention to a broader range of things

Have to disagree. Noticing every small noise a neurotypical Brain filters out makes you a good canary.

[crimsontech]

I've done a huge number of hours on sentry duty (unmedicated) and the the hour would either pass by in an instant and I wouldn't even realise it, or it would seem to drag on for hours.

One thing I certainly couldn't do was pay attention to nothing happening for an hour just incase something happened.

[kqr]

...assuming the person is able to focus on the 30 minutes of nothing that comes before the noise.

The person in my life with ADHD would start scribbling equations in the dirt or braid the loose threads on their clothing after five minutes, and easily fail to notice the noise twenty-ive minutes after that.

[squigz]

That's not how ADHD works though.