jewelweed:

• things that are very fast-paced are not “ADD”
• movies/songs/situations with disjointed themes are not “totally ADD”
• being forgetful does not mean you’re so “ADD”
• feel free to add more

appropriating experience of mental illness into an adjective is dismissive and mean. stop it.

Agreed except that ADD and ADHD is not a mental illness. I’m a happy (most of the time), high-functioning member of society, and so is my dad who I probably inherited my brain from. It’s a neuro-atypicality. An illness gets in the way of your life.

Also I wouldn’t call the verbal tic of using “I’m so ADD” to mean “I can’t focus” appropriating experience. There isn’t really a culture of people with ADD unless you count science fiction conventions. If someone puts down that they have it when they don’t to get extra time on a test then maybe it’s something related to appropriation but other than that it’s just people looking for attention because the other side of diagnostic label stigma is diagnostic label glamor.

Things that are “so ADD”:

Being unable to focus on the necessary task at hand because something else has caught your interest and you can’t set it aside until you have exhausted understanding of 16th century hats and damn your gas bill to hell.

From the outside it looks like an “attention span” problem, but from the inside it feels more like obsession and being bad at doing to-do lists in order.

1. crashqueen liked this
2. creepycatgirl liked this
3. dysanic reblogged this from littlegoldenapple
4. lenwilson54 liked this
5. jumpintolife liked this
6. rhubarbrastreisand liked this
7. readnfight liked this
8. jewelweed reblogged this from tuuli and added:

   coming off my tumblr hiatus just to make a couple of clarifications to this post (then i’m gone again) i have severe...

9. tuuli reblogged this from eateroftrees and added:

   Yeah, it’s different if you have a diagnosis. I don’t like saying “I’m so OCD”, but that’s just me.

10. no-feet-on-the-ground reblogged this from therevmatt and added:

    And people who have a bad day, week or month aren’t depressed. People who tend to be somewhat compulsive (who isen’t)...

11. no-feet-on-the-ground liked this
12. krackpotkara reblogged this from eateroftrees and added:

    get an ADHD diagnosis...adult is nearly impossible without opening up a bunch of shit

13. strontiumcapybara liked this
14. ironstring liked this
15. littlegoldenapple reblogged this from environmint
16. imathers liked this
17. topiecesdistractionetc reblogged this from eateroftrees
18. lutsky reblogged this from jewelweed
19. shakasabi reblogged this from tyrotheterrible and added:

    Yeah basically I’m just gonna second that.

20. insanityslight reblogged this from jewelweed and added:

    As much as i agree...the first part: ADHD and ADD...mental...

21. tyrotheterrible reblogged this from eateroftrees and added:

    AFAIK, these days AD/HD is still categorized as a learning disorder, but it falls under the general umbrella of...

22. draggle liked this
23. eateroftrees reblogged this from isabelthespy and added:

    I’d file it under “developmental disability”—it’s closer to things like autism then like, depression—but I think mental...

24. nesbittslimesoda liked this
25. theotherwindow liked this
26. therevmatt liked this
27. therevmatt reblogged this from jewelweed
28. disabilitydiaries1 reblogged this from getin2myhead21
29. getin2myhead21 reblogged this from flutterflyinvasion
30. flutterflyinvasion reblogged this from jewelweed
31. alexlitel liked this
32. girlboymusic liked this
33. strictlyalright liked this
34. cureforbedbugs reblogged this from isabelthespy and added:

    My totally amateur take on ADD, being somewhere on the “don’t need medication” realm of the spectrum (to my very limited...

35. isabelthespy reblogged this from deltumbles and added:

    is ADD considered a mental illness? I have no problem considering myself mentally ill (which I do/have) but for some...

36. stabatha liked this