Welcome to You and Me and ADHD.com. Whether you are a high school student, college student, craftsman, housewife/husband, professional, or entrepreneur, you will find answers to questions concerning Adult ADHD. You will find real-life stories from real people diagnosed with ADHD later in life. You will discover Stories of successes, and failures, of overcoming overwhelming odds, and, yes, of becoming the best of the best.
My Story
A horrible student from preschool through my first year in high school; Math and English were my academic downfall. Not until I entered Military service did I discover I wasn’t the ignorant, lazy, and empty-headed person I was portrayed as by many of my teachers and peers.
Yes, the Military GT tests revealed my weakness in literature math, but my intuitive math and science skills were almost off the charts! What did the Army want me to be? Anything I wanted to be, so I chose to become a Special Forces Operator (Green Berets). Unfortunately, further Special Forces testing revealed a weakness in Spacial Recognition, a required skill to become a Special Forces Operator. My second choice was blowing things up, but that’s a subject for another time!
After leaving the Army, I attended college and received my Associate of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Digital Technologies. I worked in electronics and computers for three decades before discovering I had ADHD. I returned to school at 59, where I found that almost half the class was over 50, with many also having ADHD. When I entered the first semester of my doctorate program, my thirst for ADHD knowledge was unquenchable and led to my dissertation on ADHD in the workplace.
The Truth About ADHD
What many ADHD adults know about ADHD came from a normalized society, which knows almost nothing about ADHD! Here are some eye-opening facts about ADHD:
- There is nothing wrong with you! You don’t have a disease, and you aren’t damaged goods! You have an ADHD nervous system, which differs from the so-called Neurotypical nervous system that an estimated 90% of the world’s population has.
- The adult ADHD nervous system works perfectly by its own set of rules. Unfortunately, the neurotypical world holds all people to the neurotypical nervous system and will not validate the ADHD nervous system.
- Today’s educational system, built on the neurotypical nervous system model, cannot be used to teach ADHD students. The ADHD student is a square peg trying to fit into a round hole; it won’t work!
- To become successful, the ADHD adult must write their own rules based on current successes. What does it take for you to get into “the zone”? What circumstances and environment did it take when you last succeeded and thrived?
I know that for newly diagnosed ADHD adults, this can be confusing, but bear with me. As you continue to explore pages about ADHD on this website, you will begin to understand more about the ADHD nervous system, and how it differs from the neurotypical system.
Why I Want To Help People With ADHD
My journey with ADHD hasn’t been short or easy, spanning more than seventy years! My problems in school started long before ADHD became a household topic. The repetitive response to my parent’s question about why I was having trouble in class was that I didn’t apply myself! Dreamer, drifter, lazy, lost cause, failure, loner, and troublemaker were all used to describe me by teachers and my parents.
My struggles with school extended into my high school years when I tried taking Algebra because a cheerleader I “was in love with” was in the class. I failed miserably and withdrew rather than take the “F .” My Junior year was my turnaround year, when I went out for football and track, lettering in both and earning ten gold medals in the 220-yard sprint.
My senior year was even better, and I was on my way. A late bloomer, but finally on my way. Did I ever date the cheerleader? Carrol never knew I existed till a dance at the end of my senior year when I held her briefly. A month later and we parted ways forever.
My goal in creating this website is to provide a place where newly diagnosed adults, or anyone related to or friends with someone with ADHD, can get information and answers to the most asked questions about ADHD. In this day of information overload, there is no reason for anyone to go through what I did in struggling with why I was different from everyone else.
THE GOAL OF MY WEBSITE
My goal in providing this website is to create a safe place to come for answers and communicate with others with ADHD. A place where you can learn to become the best version of yourself for the future. A place where you can short-circuit much of the trial and error that results in painful learning curves in succeeding with ADHD.
I want people to understand that folks with ADHD aren’t damaged goods. We think differently from the world’s general population, which is why we are so successful in coming up with innovative and creative solutions to the world’s thorniest problems.
CONCLUSION
Are we a lost cause to society as a whole? ABSOFRIGGINLUTELY NOT! We are in great company. Following is a partial list of folks you probably know of who have ADHD. Folks who you might be surprised to find out succeeded despite having ADHD:
Michael Phelps Emma Watson Johnny Depp
Justin Timberlake Jim Carrey Terry Bradshaw
Walt Disney Albert Einstein Thomas Edison
Michael Jordan Lisa Ling John F. Kennedy,
Are you ready to get started?
All the best,
Dr. Terry L Southern
YouandMeandADHD.com
References
Brady, C., Ph.D., Hallowell, E. M., M.D., Maynard, S., M.S., Novotni, M., Ph.D., & Dolin, A., M.Ed. (2022). How The ADHD Brain Works (1st ed., pp. 17-20). Additude Magazine. https://www.additudemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/How-the-ADHD-Brain-Works.pdf
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