Is ADHD a Disability?
Comments (3)
ADHD is a disability, especially with work or school but you can advocate for those pieces. Now doesn't mean teachers or work will adjust their classroom or workplace for it. Because they assume medicine or no medicine is suppose to fix things.
This feels like splitting hairs honestly, and my immediate reaction is that it plays into the hands of the people who don't want to consider ADHD a disability and don't want to accommodate us, the people who fill barnes and noble with books talking about how adhd is just a mindset, or it's a superpower, or some other nonsense. Of every disability I'm aware of, I can't think of another that has so many people telling the public that it isn't real, and from what I have seen, without any backlash. I hear people talk all the time about how it's made up, just laziness, a conspiracy by big pharma to medicate all the kids to sell more drugs, or any number of other things. I understand you explained that, to paraphrase, "a disability can really be seen as something for which society does not provide adequate accommodation," but I think it's important for us to consider the way we discuss our disorder. It's also important to remember that for a lot of us, there isn't even a theoretical world in which we could exist where we did not need at least medication in order to live our best lives. What does that say about ADHD? We have a fundamental difference in how our brains work that is often going to be antithetical to our goals on a daily basis and across the span of our lives. It is important for that to be understood and accepted in order to help us achieve better acceptance and accommodation in the world. I'll end this rant by saying that I still support you. Your channel has helped me a lot, and I hope you continue to make videos. I just felt like I had to get this off my chest, as the "questioning if ADHD is a disability" I see so often is something that really bothers me. Again, I really respect you, so I hope you don't take this personally. Have a good day.
May I ask what parts of the video made you feel like it was playing into the hands of others? Because we aren't questioning it, we're answering the question that we get frequently. That yes, it is a disability, it's covered by US disability law. At the same time, ADHD is very much a spectrum and so despite being a covered disability, that doesn't mean everyone is disabled by it. It's common that people are, but there are outliers. So understanding how that maybe didn't get across would be super helpful for us. :) 🧡 Harley, Community Manager