Reply to Do you consider ADHD "special needs"?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As a kid I was diagnosed with LDs. I required specialized services throughout school to help me learn. I graduated in the top 10% of my class from high school and went on to earn a PhD. That doesn’t means that I didn’t require special services to meet my needs. I used those special services to be able to attain success in school. My Mom spent a lot of time fighting for those services and providing additional supports so that I could succeed.

I was very much a special needs kid.

As an adult I was diagnosed with ADHD. It only reinforced to me how differently I see process information and respond to stimulation around me. I now understand why I get agitated in high stimulation environments and why I struggle with some regular scenarios, like in conversations where I find it hard not to interrupt and why I blurt out information. I am lucky to work in an environment where those issues have no caused me any problems and where I can make a very nice salary but I am pretty well aware that there are many environments where I would struggle. My work place has lots of open seating but they have always found a desk for me in a smaller room. They are fine with my using headphones when most people are discouraged from doing so. They have been accommodating of my quirks.

I am very much an adult with special needs.

Are my needs so great that I would be unable to function without accommodations? Probably not. Would I be in a very different place if I had not received the support I did in school or the accommodations I receive at work? Hell yeah. 100% I would have had a very different life.

There is nothing wrong with being different and knowing that you need some accommodations. [/quote]

There is so much unacknowledged privilege in this comment I don't even know where to start.

This is why it is sometimes annoying when people with mild ADHD say they are special needs.[/quote]

NP. I don’t understand this comment. Can you explain more? [/quote]

Because the primary differences between the PP and the average student or worker are:

1) A parent with the time, resources, and knowledge (and interest) I strongly advocating for her child to receive extra resources and accommodations so that her child could not merely get by in school, but excel above most others.m; and

2) Access to doctors/therapists who are able to provide official diagnoses that enables advocating for special accommodations like an office in an open plan office, for example.

A person who can excel at that level does not have special needs. They have ordinary needs but, with with extra accommodation and support, can really thrive. That’s true if most people, but most people don’t get it. PP is not uniquely hindered in life. By their own acknowledgement, they can function fine without accommodation. Only very well resourced people can conceptualize special needs in this way. 99% of the population would view someone like this as typical.[/quote]

No, the primary difference between PP and the "average student or worker" are that she has learning disabilities and ADHD.

It seems like your issue is that PP got access to resources and help that others did not. I agree that is a big problem. But that doesn't mean that she didn't deserve those resources, it just means that many others don't get the resources they deserve. This is true with all instances of unearned privilege. The privileges themselves aren't the problem. The fact that others are denied them is what needs to be changed. I assume you would take no issue with PP's comment were the system to better serve those with greater impairments.

It is absolutely untrue that somebody who can excel doesn't have special needs, regardless of how 99% of the population sees them. This is the big issue with being twice exceptional. Somebody can look like they are doing okay because their intelligence seems to counteract their impairments. But without accommodations typically 2e kids (and adults) are a ball of anxiety and shame about "not reaching their potential." It isn't just about the grades or the career, it's about overall wellbeing. The idea that we should only apportion resources to help people function, not thrive, seems to dismiss the potential severe mental health consequences of being denied accommodations for ADHD or learning disabilities (although I wouldn't even say we are trying to get people to thrive, I'd say we are trying to help them lead a life that isn't substantially more difficult than the lives of neurotypical people). [/quote]

[b]Everyone deserves those resources. PP got them, and I’m happy for her[/b]. But the truth is she would have been fine without them. Not extraordinary, no PhD, probably making less money in a less interesting or rewarding or comfortable job. Fine. Like everyone else.

Lots of people have learning disabilities. Lots of people have ADHD. If they are mild enough that you are okay without accommodation, there is little difference between you and a person who struggles because their parents had a messy divorce or because they are unusually sensitive. Everybody’s got problems.[/quote]

But who decides what "okay" is? If somebody clearly has ADHD but is able to get Bs and Cs, does that necessarily mean their ADHD is mild enough that they don't need things others don't, like extra time on tests or medications?

[b]Also my parents had a messy divorce and I have ADHD, and even though I was able to become an attorney without treatment, the ADHD is 100x worse than the messy divorce. So I'll have to disagree with you there.[/b] [/quote]

For you. Why do you assume your experience is universal.

The issue is that when we create a special class and say “these children need more” and we include well-resourced kids with parents who are determined to get them every advantage, but not poor-resourced kids who are just expected to muddle through, we’ve totally corrupted the idea of “special needs.”

I was never suggesting the PP didn’t need the resources she got. Just pointing out that the failure to acknowledge that only kids from certain backgrounds get this kind of support is obnoxious. To say, “I am special needs” but not recognize that by this definition LOTS of people are special needs who never get this support, because they lack access to resources that would enable them to get accommodations is arrogant.

For every person like PP, there are a hundred or more kids with undiagnosed LDs, ADHD, or worse, who have no one to advocate for them. And some of them probably now work with PP and while she is given special accommodations, they struggle every day.[/quote]

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