"Q: How many people with ADHD does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Wanna go ride a bike?"
Why is my disorder a joke? Why are the drugs that can genuinely help the people like me so widely abused and are also the punchlines of so many jokes? I have felt like this for a very long time. ADHD is very hard to live with. And ADHD is not a joke. But yet, that's how the world sees it. I've talked about my struggle to cope with being neuroatypical before, and I feel like it still needs to be addressed. Because everyone sees it as a joke. And I'm emotionally tired of having to show a half-hearted smile when people try to make those jokes about it. MY BRAIN IS NOT A JOKE!
And it hurts me. It hurts my self-esteem, it hurts my countenance, it hurts my heart when people, even those close to me, joke about it. Because even after being diagnosed for over a decade, every single day is a struggle. Every single day is hard to get through. And for so many of us, ADHD is just the beginning. There are seven different kinds of ADHD, and all of them can lead to other mental disorders. I have anxiety, and from that combination comes a Body-Focused Repetitive Behavior (BFRB) called Dermatillomania, which involves a hyper-focus on picking at the skin. I am most likely going to develop depression at some point in my life. ADHD affects every part of my life, and it will until the day I die. And yet people still think jokes are appropriate.
Would you make a joke about Autism or Asperger's? Would you make a joke about cancer or an autoimmune disease? No, you wouldn't. So why do people make jokes about ADHD? ADHD is a mental disorder. Mental disorders affect the brain. The brain is an organ. THERE IS AN ORGAN IN A PERSON'S BODY THAT IS NOT FUNCTIONING AS A TYPICAL ORGAN SHOULD. So how is that a joke? How are peoples' daily struggles a joke to the world? Is it because it is a relatively new disorder? Is it that there has been an over-diagnosis among young children?
Every single day is a struggle for me. It takes every ounce of energy I have to get out of bed at a decent hour, and even more concentration to get myself ready. As soon as I wake up, I am aware of everything that is in my room and the bathroom next door. I can hear every person in my house, and I can feel every living thing's presence in my house. I can hear the machines and computers that are on. Every single sound that is background noise to most people bombards my thoughts.
I have become so strict and so meticulous about how everything in my personal spaces should be organized that it is almost a nightmare and is overwhelming if something is not in place. Everything has a specific place, and if it doesn't, every single second is spent trying to figure out where it's home is. I have to set five alarms every single day or I won't get up on time in order to do all the things I need to do.
I have an incredibly creative brain, but there is so much tossing around in it that I don't know how to bring it all out. My creativity output is nowhere near the amount of creative thought that happens at every single second of every single day. There would be no way I could ever get it all out. And quite often, if I don't make a note of an idea, I won't be able to remember it later. I am also incredibly smart, but it doesn't come across sometimes because I am notoriously reckless. Actions are not always thought out all the way through and consequences are not foreseen. That makes me seem really, really stupid sometimes. And I'm not stupid. Not at all. I talk because sometimes my brain is going to fast for my tongue or my fingers so when I say something I'll stutter on a single word for a while until I catch up with the rest of the thought, or sometimes when I'm typing or texting in an informal situation, I will type too quickly to realize that I skipped entire sentences or I misspelled words.
My brain is not a joke. I don't if it's a family member or a stranger, or even someone who has ADHD as well who says it. Mental illness is not a joke. It never has been and it never will be.
Emily E.
I have an incredibly creative brain, but there is so much tossing around in it that I don't know how to bring it all out. My creativity output is nowhere near the amount of creative thought that happens at every single second of every single day. There would be no way I could ever get it all out. And quite often, if I don't make a note of an idea, I won't be able to remember it later. I am also incredibly smart, but it doesn't come across sometimes because I am notoriously reckless. Actions are not always thought out all the way through and consequences are not foreseen. That makes me seem really, really stupid sometimes. And I'm not stupid. Not at all. I talk because sometimes my brain is going to fast for my tongue or my fingers so when I say something I'll stutter on a single word for a while until I catch up with the rest of the thought, or sometimes when I'm typing or texting in an informal situation, I will type too quickly to realize that I skipped entire sentences or I misspelled words.
My brain is not a joke. I don't if it's a family member or a stranger, or even someone who has ADHD as well who says it. Mental illness is not a joke. It never has been and it never will be.
Emily E.
