I think I get you.

Like, what if we're just different, but we need "treatment" to survive in a society that runs on already inhuman paradigms that are called "normal"?

There's a lot of conflict and debate on this. Would ADHD folks still be "disabled" in a world that didn't attempt to force them to run like a misshapen gear in industrial-revolution clockwork? Maybe.

I still think it's a disability though. One we can make peace with, but it makes general survival a huge pain to deal with, and not just in modernized inhuman society.

The correct treatment can make these things much more manageable.

It can have perks. And I like my personality the way it is...but calling it a "superpower" is a huge stretch too. I really don't think it's some kind of cool "evolutionary fork" like some people want to push.

I hate lots of things about modern society and it's sociopath expectations, but also we must be careful not to fall into the trap of not helping people cope when their life falls apart when left to their own devices.

"Your home is tidy because you anticipate getting a little dopamine reward for a job well done. (How cute)

My home is tidy through determination, anger, sheer force of will, to do the thing despite every fiber of my being desperately trying to pull me away from it. Knowing that it simply must be done has to suffice as its own reward.

We are not the same."

That's why I think it can suit us quite well to be self-employed, and get paid to do enough different challenging things to keep it interesting.

Your work directly translating into money is nice.

But also, huge asterisk there, because I found out my carefully honed 3D modeling skills aren't worth "living money" unless you're crazy good, and also the official stuff like licensing and taxes are totally those "pick up your socks boring tasks" that we put off at the last minute sooo....

I dunno, I can't seem to decide whether it's worth trying to find a job I can "leave at work" that doesn't drive me crazy, or hustle to make my own venture viable. 🤔

My ADHD doctor told me:

"Medication tends to be Plan Z. We do everything we can with working with your lifestyle, your habits, your thought patterns, and then consider the lowest effective dose if we need to." I liked that approach. I didn't want medication either.

Understanding how you work differently than others expect is extremely powerful.

However, eventually after MUCH STRUGGLE... I'm taking a puny 5mg generic Adderall daily...and it makes the monkey-radio stop switching channels in my brain for a minute.

A lot of people describe it like getting glasses when they didn't think they needed them. "Wait... you're supposed to be able to see all those leaves from this far?!?! WOW!"

I guess just make sure you're seeing a psychologist first, because psychiatrists are basically all ' bout 'dem pills lol.

Call her doctor

Agh, they usually say "The patient needs to be the one to make the appointment." >:(

But, yeah OP, if you are right there with her every step of the way, she can do it, and I bet that would be very helpful, like bowling with guard rails! She can feel the empowerment of doing the work, but you're there to bump away the possibility of falling off into failure. :)

:(

That hits hard because if I wasn't adopted, that was almost my fate. Guess I wouldn't have known either way...

But I'm glad I'm here, and I'm glad you and your sister are here. We can make this place better for each other. 🫂

Me when I write a simple BASH script:

"Oh my gosh it actually WORKS!...Whelp, that should hold. On to the next thing!"

Suing who? Admins right? Because you wouldn't get much out of teachers. (In the US anyway) 😂

Lol I hated this too, I really did. But like a lot of answers here, I can appreciate it somewhat now. Especially when trying to learn to code.

I think learning to break down problems might even be MORE valuable to people like us with ADHD, even if we hate it, because we tend to intuit our way through things by the seat of our pants.

Also sometimes I got really lucky and arrived at the correct answer in a bizarre and inconsistent way.

In the end, it's very valuable to be able to communicate your process to others. Even if it's irritating and awful to get through.

I also wonder if those like myself, who really REALLY hated math until my brain started to appreciate it in my adult years, just gnash our teeth at these memories because it made us feel stupid when we struggled to keep up with that slow, methodical raw-logic stuff...

EDIT: I can see you were the polar opposite of myself, ridiculously GOOD at math but found it a waste of time showing how you got there. That makes sense. I have zero idea what that's like lol.

I will say though, I've found putting pencil/pen to paper and brain dumping to be rather therapeutic at times! In your secret notebook you can even trash that teacher that tried to dissuade you from writing. :D

(Got this idea from The Artist's Way book. Lol)

My man I feel for you there so much it hurts.

Interviews in jobs suitable to my intelligence level:

"Wow that's quite some knowledge! But have you been doing only this and nothing else for 15 years with certified evidence of steady infinite progression with no stopping?"

Interviews for jobs I might have a shot at:

"So on your availability here I notice you said Monday through Friday but can I pull you for holidays and weekends on short notice anyway? We work hard and play hard like a family here heh heh...So what is your definition of 'solid gold standard servitude in worship of The Customer?'"

I've actually considered starting a Friendica or other instance exclusively for friends and family to share pictures and communicate, invite only...

... But even if I managed the insane technical aspects and convinced people to try it, I only fear the mainstream social media giants have already trained them to be their worst selves at this point. I can see the bickering drama threads now, eating up my gigabytes...

I just hate how fragmented and walled the most connected Internet ever is...I felt more connection when I had everyone between Yahoo and MSN Messengers, or took the time to check out friends' MySpace pages.