Re: Been looking for the positives…

[Wgreen]

Hey Jim—

Look, my guess is if you polled enough ADDers—or people who say they have ADD—you could eventually list EVERY “positive” trait known to exist. Ditto for every negative trait. My point is that lists as “inclusive” as your coach’s cease to be as helpful as they might be because they are… so inclusive. While I’m sure there are a few ADDers out there who are in fact “detail-oriented,” obliviousness to daily minutiæ is an ADD bellwether. You might as well add “taciturn” and “highly organized” to the list. If there is little to distinguish ADDers from the general population, it begs a question: why should anybody care about Attention Deficit at all? What is it about ADD that warrants insurance payouts of millions of dollars/pounds/euros a year for medications or expensive special accommodations for ADHD kids?

And, for the record, many clinicians who specialize in ADD—like Russell Barkley—claim there is, in fact, little if any upside to ADD. He argues that there is no empirical evidence to support the allegation that ADD makes people more creative, intelligent, imaginative, etc. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t smart, creative ADDers. It just means that absent the ADD, they’d still be smart and creative. Now, he and his colleagues may be wrong about that. But that’s his contention. Suffice it to say, there’s nothing settled about the notion of ADD as a fount of gregariousness and creative genius.

Having said all that, I fully second your “positive” orientation. And I don’t mean to demean—after all, it’s not your list. I just think your coach’s pep band is a little too brassy.

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