Mental Disorders Are Still Misunderstood And Laughed At In 2022.
Scott Shapiro M.D. on July 31, 2018 wrote in Psychology today, "Many patients with Adult ADHD struggle with their professional or school reading. People with ADHD have a tendency to lose interest, miss important information, and become easily distracted. Does this sound familiar to you?"
In his article he teaches people tips including how to speed read. To try and find a phrase or sentence that tells what each paragraph and Ignore the rest of it. This is a technique taught to children in school if they are diagnosed with ADHD, or at least it used to be. I haven't been in elementary school in about 30 years.
On April 15, 2015 on Edutopia.org, Tracy Collins wrote, "Students with ADHD often have difficulties with writing, especially in terms of spelling. The most common issues are reversing or omitting letters, words, or phrases. Students may spell the same word differently within the same essay. That's why lots of attention should be paid to spelling."
Collins went on to say, "Students with ADHD may experience problems during the final editing of their work since, by this time, they will have read and reviewed it several times and may not be paying attention to mistakes."
Sharrisse Viltus describes what the symptoms of what is commonly known as 'surface dyslexia' in an article about adults writing with ADHD.
Sharrisse wrote, "One of the most blatant symptoms of ADHD is overlooking mistakes on critical details. For writers, this could mean missing obvious grammar errors or omitting important information."
One may think ADHD is just a problem for children. There are even some who don't believe in disorders, illnesses, and disabilities of the mind. These people are prone to think everything in this article you're reading is hogwash.
According to the CDC, 41.3% of adults suffer from ADHD. So those people can stick that in their pipes and smoke it. I am ever growing more and more misanthropic, sorry. I am really growing to hate people more and more every day.
Now there are tricks and techniques people can use to try and avoid these errors, such as reading out loud, reading the material several times. Looking for key words or phrases. Looking for the answers to questions when reading. Even using spell check, trust me I know and use a variety of them. The point is they do not always work. And when people with ADHD find a mistake, they correct it as soon as possible, if possible.
Since I've started blogging, people have pointed out or even made fun of the fact that I make a lot of errors. Most of the time it's from people who don't know me and I shrug it off. However, this isn't new to me. I've been dealing with this my entire life.
I had been diagnosed with ADD at age 7, which is now grouped in with ADHD but the medication was too strong and they had to take me off of it. From the time I started school until the time I reached the second grade I was made fun of because I was in a special reading and writing class. And also had trouble pronouncing certain words.
So when I moved midway through that year and the new teacher asked if I was supposed to be in any special reading classes, I said no. Could I of used the help with learning how to work with my disorder? Yeah but it wasn't worth the constant belitting and humiliation I suffered from my peers at the time.
(And let me tell you as a victim of bullying, swing back on a bully only gets you beat worse and then you get it from your parents for fighting in school when you're supposed to be learning. The weight room became my best friend and People soon didn't want to get physical without a numbers advantage.)
I made it all the way until age 14 before someone noticed I had any issues. Probably because my parents were too lazy to care. I had always done my best not to read out loud and I carried a C average at best in English. My English teacher asked me to read something out loud. After I finished in front of the whole class, she told me "if you cannot read right, don't waste my time reading at all."
Later that semester, she actually kicked me out of her class because of the issues I was having with grammer mistakes. She "didn't think I was taking the work seriously." I told the house administrator and counselor that it was how I read and write. I was instructed to talk to my teacher and to inform her but the teacher slammed the door in my face. I would inform the counselor but I never received any help with the situation and the next school semester I was in a different school. So it didn't matter.
I dropped out and eventually got my GED at 19. Afterwards I tried a few times to go for higher education or trades but things didn't work out. From the time I was 17 until the time I was 27, I never read anything except for Dungeons and Dragons books. And until MySpace in 2007, I never needed to write anything. And I didn't talk to anyone outside my house or Job, so there was no letters or emails. And I didn't get my first cell until the same time.
In 2010, I started learning that there were words I used all the time but forgot how to spell. And let me tell you sounding and blending doesn't help. And spell check only helps when you're close to the correct spelling. And auto correct will change words, regardless if they're the right or wrong spelling.
And in 2014 I returned to college. I got in with a 12 grade reading and 9th grade writing level. I had to take a review course in my first semester. If it wasn't for the tutoring office, I wouldn't of passed that course with a grade higher then a C. It was the first time I had an A in english.
The next two semesters I took english 101 and made a lot of mistakes. One of the professors had us proof reading others assignments. And I was pulled aside after a few classes.
The professor asked me if I was actually proof reading because I was missing things. And he also had an issue with the fact that I did not include enough details in my writings. My descriptive "papers lacked Imagination, they lacked details." Basically he was telling me they lacked fluff. I carried a 70-75 through my time in college english.
The thing about all of this is people never stop to think maybe someone has a mental disorder for why they do things. My 18 year old nephew has autism among other things and I have watched him for the last 6 plus years get bullied or worse because people don't understand or accept that he has a mental disorder.
I do my best to try to understand my nephew because I know what it's like to have a disorder and get treated that way by people you know. That's not the only disorder I have. I have a few others including depression. Mental disorders are hard to spot, just ask Robin Williams and Chester Bennington. Oh wait, you can't because they lost their battles with depression.
In 2014, I was real close to being committed because emergency mental health people thought I was close to being a danger to either myself or others. I had to agree to go see a medical professional to avoid ending up in a mental hospital.
We still live in an age where discussing mental health is taboo and if one does, they have to be "looking for attention." So people keep things hidden and the age of social media makes it a lot easier to hide things. My niece has Dravet syndrome and my sibling was upset that I revealed it because she was embarrassed for people to know.
So if you notice someone has a problem, maybe inquire about it. It might seem funny to you but it might be something they're struggling with.
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