I wonder if apologizing for the long periods between posts will become the norm in this blog… Anyways, I’ve had a lot of crazy stuff going on but I have never forgotten about my vision. I have been writing this draft for a while, doing research and brainstorming, and now I realize this is the most ambitious post yet. In case you have not read my introductory post yet (it really helps this whole thing make sense), I must warn you I am not a licensed psychiatrist, lawyer… not even a licensed driver! All I am is a man that has lived 30 years with ADD, and doesn’t want anyone else to go through all the suffering he has.
One of my biggest frustrations is directly related to labor or the lack thereof. An adult with ADD/ADHD will have a harder time keeping a job than the average Joseph. It’s a fact. Some even measure the graveness of your condition based on how many jobs you’ve had! The truth is that in the corporate world, all those things that make us awesome are frowned upon.
Being a person that is used to constant job applications I have managed to keep a very precise log of my work history. Here are my statistics: In 13 years I have had 12 jobs (not counting my military training because I was still employed elsewhere) lasting an average of 342 days each. The time between jobs is a total of 648 days, 13.62% of those 13 years. 50% I quit and 50% I was kicked out. Out of those I quit there is only one I don’t regret. I never worked for more than about 160% of the minimum wage at the time. Now, before you start thinking “oh, that’s awful”, let me tell you; I thought it was going to be worse when I started doing the math!
So what I’ve been doing is researching what rights we have when it comes to labor. Turns out the Americans with Disabilities Act does cover ADD, but it’s very tricky about it. Basically it forbids employers from discriminating against employees based on disabilities that do not directly disqualify them from performing their duties and forces them to provide reasonable accommodations to disabled employees.
The problem is that – as I have mentioned before – ADD is almost impossible to diagnose in a tangible, objective manner and that the symptoms are basically a list of things your average supervisor hates in a subordinate. These two factors together are bad news. If you mention you have ADD at work, and you have been doing great so far, your boss may become very suspicious and start keeping tabs on you. If you have not been doing great your boss will think you’re trying to pull the AwDA card to save yourself from imminent unemployment and will immediately begin scheming your dismissal by any other means that would appear entirely legit. Employers will discredit any evidence of your condition if you file a complaint. I’ve even read of cases in which they have used the fact that an employee has been able to meticulously gather and organize all the evidence necessary for their case against them! Oh the irony is spine-tingling! Perfect material for a Lifetime movie!
“Well, looks like you’ve had no trouble keeping all these logs and reading all these laws and so and so and so” – says the judge while flipping through a thick binder – “how come you are not able to show up to work on time?”
The defendant, who was an avid Project Hyperfocus reader, was not surprised at all – “That’s nothing, your honor!” – She yelled – “I was also able to smuggle this into the courtroom piece by piece and assemble it while you were all distracted!”
There were no survivors.
Of course we all know violence is not the solution. But what is, then? Ha! I’m glad you asked! See, I have a plan! While the current laws can be worked on, the truth is that you can’t work on a solution until you understand the problem! Besides, while these laws are excellent at helping disabled people, who says we’re disabled? I prefer the term “misplaced”.
The real solution begins with early diagnosis. Teachers should be educated in detecting the symptoms in children in order to refer to a licensed psychiatrist for diagnosis. Upon diagnosis the next step would be education. ADD kids learn differently, they should not be made to sit in an ordinary classroom but they should not be treated as fidgety, lazy or “special” either; they should be treated like what they are, gifted kids, and they should be trained on how to channel this gift to become successful adults.
Children should be taught strict organizing and planning and skills from an early age so these good habits make life easier for them in the long run. There should be a special focus on physical education based on the findings that nutrition and exercise are directly linked to improvement in ADD symptoms.
Finally when students are ready to graduate they should be offered realistic job/college counseling. I remember my high school counselor would ell anyone with good grades they should be engineers. It’s an excellent career… but is it the right one? This world does not need any more unemployed engineers. The students must consider their talents, abilities and interests (when you have ADD, boredom is torture).
For higher education, universities need to start rethinking what they’re doing. I’ve never heard of “special ed” in college, why? In my opinion, college is no place for someone with ADD/ADHD. Not because we can’t handle it, (though it can be pretty hard) but because colleges are designed to break your soul and turn you into yet another corporate automaton or a college teacher. That does not bode well with a hyper focused mind.
After all these measures are taken, it should be easier for employers to realize the potential of an ADD prospect. Employees should be able to bargain for accommodations beyond just plain “reasonable” in exchange for extraordinary creative thinking and problem solving.
That, my friends is my dream. Will you share my dream with me? The only way I can think of making this happen is spreading the word, creating awareness and hoping more and more influencing people get involved. We also need your ideas, so be sure to post your comments.
Thanks for reading!
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