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Mental Health
I Trick My ADHD Brain into Letting Me Do Chores and Save Money
The struggle to convince the world that I’m “normal” doesn’t always leave a lot of leftover energy
I was formally diagnosed with ADHD as a child, but my parents didn’t believe in that stuff. Instead, I grew up believing the narrative that I was “misdiagnosed” and “saved from a lifetime of dangerous addictive medication” by an idea my mother had. After my brief experience carrying that label and its stigma around as a child, I genuinely don’t know whether it was better or worse for me to lose access to formal accommodations and medication that might have helped. I don’t have an alternate experience to compare mine to; I just make do with my own “quirks”. That said, I do know people who have said that ADHD medications helped them immensely. I trust that each of us are the experts on our own experience and always appreciate listening to others’ stories of coping.
At age 7, I had been put in Special Education and threatened with repeating the school year if I didn’t pass an End of Grade test. My Special Education experience in the 90’s consisted mostly of sitting next to a little boy who screamed non-stop while I struggled to focus on a card game a very patient teacher was trying unsuccessfully to get me to understand.
My mother knew I had to make some drastic academic changes to convince everyone that I was “misdiagnosed” and didn’t need any “accommodations”. Otherwise, she figured I’d never get out of Special Education and “wouldn’t ever learn anything”. Under the circumstances, that threat felt very real.
Without realizing it, she made an accommodation for me that worked well. She created a “game” with “rewards” that made it possible for me to work non-stop outside of school and on weekends to learn how to read and get better at every subject. This allowed my brain to focus, so I was able to meet all of my goals and pass the test. By age 14, I had gone from struggling to read at all to being considered “advanced” in literature. I got a Masters in Spanish linguistics, so I guess I figured out how to read and write well enough eventually without accommodations.
