Aspies For Freedom

You're going to hate me then, because I think does exist but is much less common than what most people think. Most people just have a lot of energy.

A lot of parents are quick to label their kids ADHD. Well kids in the modern world are full of energy from watching TV all the time instead of playing around. Also people in the modern world are terrible at waiting and refuse to do long, hard tasks such a paperwork.

i used to to that during sports.just sit and pick at the grass.

and i have severe difficulty learning pretty much anything my voice.i have to either read it,see it or do it for it to stick(if i can do it a few times,then i will always be able to do it(generaly) correctly)

obviously you havent seen what ADHD is in the US.

theyve begun to drug todlers, people as young as 18 months old (youngest ive heard of atleast)
do you realize what kind of effect these drugs have on childrens brains?

and, ive never seen proof that ADHD  exists, only proof that it doesnt, so i will continue beliveing what is logically sound thank you.

"ive never seen proof that ADHD  exists, only proof that it doesnt"

Really, you've seen proof that ADHD doesn't exist? Please share!

I hear you there Amy, i've got a cousin (related not by blood) who has at least ADHD. And my older cousin has to corral him when he gets to excited thankfully he doesn't think his step-son needs meds.

I live in the US and I am 30yo and was diagnosed as a child with ADD.  Thank goodness I was.....I had a difficult time in from grade school thru college.  People still get upset durimg comversations with me and my mind moves so quick that I jump from 1 subject to another without a breath never mind I have NO attention span.  To be honest sometimes I think that my 3yo has a longer attention span than I do!! I talk so fast that people can't even understand what I am saying.  I was put on medication as a child but my mother took me off of it.  I have learned to live with it and shrug off the "not so nice comment" made to me about me..... It might be overly diagnosed but it DOES EXIST!!!!!

You are right about how drugs if given at an early age would most likely effect a childs brain. It would be more on the safer side to offer the drugs when the brain is fully developed, which I believe is about 5 or 6 years old from what I have heard. But, Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, in fact, does exist. You really cannot belie something like this, when the evidence is far too obvious in the child's actions. Please look through this for further information. And I too would like to read this "proof" you have...

hi everyone,
i cant stand it when people say that ADHD doesn't exist, it really annoys me.
i dont actually have an official diagnoses that i know of but my doctor knows of my difficulties and told my mum that in his eyes he will refer to me having an autistic spectrum disorder(i hate the word disorder lol) and moderate-severe ADHD. he told my mum that if i cant gain access to extra help in school because of my differences that he would be more than happy to refer me to a psychologist...but for the time being he said i am doing and have done fine without being officially diagnosed and he is proud of me and my acheivements.
im not badly behaved at all im just extremely impulsive and extremely hyperactive. people can think what they like when they meet me but i know ADHD and asperger syndrome are VERY REAL disorders ect and im living proof. sorry this is so long but now you can see just how much i have to say when it comes to non-believers lol

WOW, I`m almost 50 and I finally realized, thanks to the internet and a cocaine relapse what my "problem" finally is. Now I have to find out what if anything i can do about it. I always wondered why I could battle intellectuals in debate, yet I am a high school dropout with a massive drug and alcohol problem. I did not put together why my smart aunts and uncles gambled so much, and had Parkinsons disease. I didn`t know untill now my early bedwetting experiences and later drug problems were related.Reading about the cluster of "phenomena" associated with ADHD and subsequent "illness" has opened my mind to the madness of Adam and Eve, and how this not only caused problems but also whats seperates us from the apes. Craziness is the seed of creativity. Without the nuts ,society as we know it would have never happened. A few of us had to pay the price. But how do we cope without illegal or legal drugs? I also have Hep C, and am taking meds that are known to cause suicidal depression. I have completely isolated myself from the world. I have had a liver transplant. My doctors are very concerned about me. I don`t know what to do, although I have had such urgent suicidal ideation all my life, I have a coupla drinks,snort of coke,toke,and i`m good to go. Except I am older now and don`t like the side effects of illegal and legal drugs(including alcohol), because of the long term effects of addiction . How do you cope? I am tired of those thousand dollar nights(mind you they were fun as a kid) I use to curse my addictions, untill I figured out that`s what kept me alive since I was sixteen. I wouldn`t exchange my crazy experiences all over the world for a "normal" life with a wife and kids for a million dollars. The mania that spawns from depression is the wildest feeling in the world. If you have it, flaunt it?
"How do you know i`m mad" asked Alice
"You must be mad" said the Cat,"or you would have not come here!"
-brother in insanity Lewis Caroll(excuse my spelling and grammer I`m DYSLEXCIC)

That is exactly it. I recently saw a news report on ADHD showing a kid screaming and swearing at his parents and slamming doors. I know there is a lot of prejudice towards people with Autism but nowhere near as much as towards ADHD. Kids with ADHD don't do what the media says they do. Maybe some of them, but it has nothing to do with ADHD. I wish people knew more about ADHD, and I really respect what Aspies For Freedom is doing. I am trying to teach the truth about ADHD because sadly, even most of the 'experts' are completely wrong about it. Not many people seem to be joining my 'ADHD is a part of natural variation and we are perfectly OK' cause where I am trying to teach people about it.

Slightly off topic, but Amy, I am wondering if you know why ADHD isn't officially considered a PDD yet? It is only considered a ' childhood developmental disorder' despite it being proven that it lasts throughout a person's life. I say this because I have this hunch that ADHD and Asperger's are closely related. In fact, I think it might be that they are caused by the same gene/s but manifest differently due to environmental factors. Or maybe if they are caused by multiple genes then maybe one is the same. If ADHD becomes an official PDD then it is just that little bit closer to Asperger's. Anyway, this is just an idea. I don't entirely believe it.

Back on topic, what is worse than people saying it doesn't exist is people who think they know something about ADHD advocating for it and telling people about it. I remember once a health teacher was telling my class that ADHD is caused by a bad diet. I put up my hand and tried to explain to him that whilst sugar can hype someone up, increasing their activity and maybe decrease their attention span so that it looks like ADHD (ADHDers actually have long attention spans when it comes to the obsessive interests they seem to have, it is just that they need to be more stimulated than others due to dopamine reuptake inhibitor problems and so don't focus on boring stuff so people THINK they have a short attention span. And actually, this is partly why it goes undiagnosed in gifted children. "But he reads for hours without getting up, he doesn't have attentional difficulties!"), it does NOT cause ADHD.
He smirked and asked "Oh yeah, and what makes you think that you know better than I?"
"Well sir, I have ADHD."
At this point he used his authoritative powers as a teacher to cut me off with "You don't have ADHD. If you had ADHD you wouldn't be able to pay attention. Now, the next person who talks gets a detention- I need to proceed with the lesson."

One day things will change. Maybe you can join me, Amy, you have a son with it, I am sure you can contribute.

The latest big headline is that ADHD just "lags behind" regular development by about three years, and that kids do, indeed, outgrow it. So say this week's big experts...

I've still got it and I'm 54. I guess I'm scheduled to outgrow it when I'm 57...

Max The Bear: I honestly wonder how they can be called experts. People do NOT outgrow ADHD! Oh and we don't lag behind by 3 years, it is like Asperger's, in some aspects on average we are ahead and in others we are behind.

Forget all this talk about lag and specific number of years we lag behind those without "neurodiversity," you can't place a specific number on perceived developmental delay.

Change it to:  people with AS or ADHD have different strengths and weaknesses, just like people with Neurotypicalism or other conditions.

Too right, Batman.

My ADHD is inattentive however, and as you saw in the other thread, classic stimulant meds for ADHD work very bizarrely (and dangerously) on me.