According to the CDC and the national 2016 Parent Survey, about 6.1 million children in the United States have Attention Deficit & Hyperactivity Disorder. Apart from the obvious issues (attention and hyperactivity), children with ADHD face additional adversity like susceptibility to further cognitive problems, stigmas, and delayed diagnoses (if diagnosed at all).
LIFE ON ADD
I named this series, "Life on ADD", because the only way I've ever been able to describe what having ADHD is like is by saying, "It's like drinking 10 vodka-redbulls". (You're bouncing off the walls ready to explode while simultaneously feeling heavy and discombobulated from the depressants in the alcohol.)
Ironically, the effects of stimulants (legally perscribed medication) on neuro-divergent brains do not intensify symptoms, but balance brain chemistry closer to normal levels. When I drink a cup of coffee, it doesn't make me jittery, it makes me calm and focused.
The human brain is weird, I know.
But ADHD is not something that goes away. It's a disorder that stays with you for life.
It's a Big Deal.
People with ADHD do not think normally, behave normally, regulate emotions normally, or socialize normally----Is what many will say. I say they are idiosyncratic and complex. They struggle and they adapt. They are their own normal. We may not be able to walk a day in each others'... heads, but we can give them voice and listen to their stories as we practice empathy.
Jack Shepley, 17 at the time, was a junior in high school and had only recently been diagnosed with ADHD. In this interview, he discusses his troubles in school, being prevented from getting the help he needed, not understanding himself, and finally finding an outlet for all of his frustrations and suppressed emotions in music.