Compassion Is PowerfulWritten by: Richard Carlson
As a child I struggled to keep up. I was constantly missing the important details of my daily tasks, which left me quietly guessing. I endured harsh criticisms from teachers and fellow classmates throughout my formative years which triggered a sense of failure and great personal disappointment.
My parents were supportive in my scholastic development as a child, but due to mounting frustration, lack of outside assistance, and having three other children to take care of, they slowly distanced themselves from my learning difficulties. This was without a doubt exacerbated by my quiet disposition and refusal to ask for help. I struggled through high school and maintained the role of class-clown straight through college. My ability to make others laugh and my prowess as a social butterfly allowed me to develop a false sense of happiness, but I never really liked myself. My childhood failures and feelings of complete isolation haunted me on a daily basis. These failures would continue to affect my confidence and self-esteem until my mid-twenties.
It was actually my younger brother's diagnosis of ADHD that lead to my own discovery. Michael (my brother) is fifteen years my junior. He was diagnosed with ADHD when I was twenty three years old. Although his hyperactive behavior was in complete contrast to my self-contained, mental busyness; there were many parallels to our learning difficulties. My mother and father were very active in the support of Michael's ADHD and slowly my mother convinced me to see a doctor as well. I was diagnosed with ADD at age twenty five. It was at that moment that I began to make sense of my childhood and forgive myself for the past. I am now an adult living with ADD that recognizes my past difficulties for what they truly were and I will forever treat myself and others with much greater compassion and understanding.
ADD/ADHD affects people in different ways, but there is a common strength that many of us share. We are resilient! If you are an adult living with ADD/ADHD I urge you to become active in our community and take advantage of the support it can offer. Learning more about this disorder will enable you to have greater compassion for yourself and help others that may also be experiencing the difficulties of living with ADD/ADHD.
This is the first issue of the ADD Community Press and I thought it would be fitting to share with you a bit of my personal history. In future editions of this newsletter we would like to include personal stories from our subscribers. Please send us your story.
Mail Your Story To:
LifeLifters, Inc., P.O. Box 426, Newburyport, MA 01950.
Or
 Click here to email your story.
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16th ANNUAL CHADD CONFERENCE
16th Annual International Conference on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Striking the Right Note Through Science, Education and Support
October 28-30, 2004
Renaissance Nashville Hotel and Nashville Convention Center Nashville, TN
CHADD's annual conference provides a unique opportunity for professionals, researchers, educators, clinicians, adults with AD/HD and parents to share their stories, learn about the latest developments in research, diagnosis, treatments and behavior, and gather information on many other related subjects.
Seminars addressing a host of topics; everything from peer pressure and social relationships, teaching methods and juvenile justice to anger management and co-existing conditions, provide a look at the many issues individuals with AD/HD face daily.
LifeLifters hopes to see you there!
Click here to register for the CHADD Conference.
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