Michael Hoye, ALC, APTT-C

As a clinician who specializes in attention deficit disorderattention deficit hyperactivity disorder ((ADDADHD) (I will refer as ADHD only going forward)) testing and assessment, I often have clients who ask me questions about ADHD from a negative perspective. Specifically, some may see ADHD as a negative "disorder" and they will oftentimes display a sense of concern or hesitancy when asking if they may have ADHD. My response is just about the same to each individual. Namely, ADHD is actually not a disorder of the individual, but rather a disorder of society. Now, what do I mean by this exactly? Well, if any of us think about what life was like before the industrial revolution -- or for the sake of simplicity, lets say 1000 years ago -- it would be safe to say that life looked quite different. Well, for almost all of human history until recent, we weren't expected to sit in a classroom for 8 hours a day eventually transitioning into 8+ hours of sitting in office spaces before going home into the comforts of our house. You see, this is where the problem is... before we had nice classrooms, offices, vehicles, houses, etc., the individuals "with ADHD" were the ones who were championed in small or large villages because he or she was able to "notice" what would "stand out," which was often the resources needed for survival and advancement, and lets not forget noticing any threats to the village! So, is "ADHD" actually a "disorder" of the individual, or a "disorder" of society? My answer is society. Now, are the nice things we have in today's world a negative? Absolutely not. This just helps us understand that ADHD should be looked at as a strength, not a disorder. Technically speaking, we were not meant to spend 8+ hours inside of four walls with the perfect (and if you think about it... artificial) temperature; rather, we were meant to adventure out into the wilderness in search of our next meal and materials. ADHD testing and assessment helps us understand where the "un-alignments" are and how we can develop a plan to use ADHD as a strength for our own success. If you have any thoughts or questions, let's talk!