There is absolutely no benefit to having a LD. Seriously, there is NONE - people with LDs who attain success do so in spite of their LD, not because of it. This notion that LDs make you more "creative" or whatever is backed by absolutely no research and is mostly a bunch of feel-good nonsense.
A great reference for this is Dr. Russell Barkley:
Thanks for sharing your perspective. Do you have an LD yourself? What do you think of The Dyslexic Advantage [1], which was written by experts who have very strong academic credentials?
Looking forward to checking out Dr. Barkley — thanks for sharing.
You realise Russel Barkley had a brother with adhd who died in a car crash?
He's extremely negative about adhd.
There has been evidence to suggest greater skills in other areas - the research isn't enough yet as it's only a few papers. But Russel barkley always jumps on any notion of improved skills and smashes it with as much passion as he can. I can understand why he hates adhd.
What? What does any of that have to do with anything I said? Why would a trained clinical psychologist be anything but negative about a brain disorder that, when left untreated, contributes to poor long-term outcomes in (1):
-academic performance
-self-esteem regulation
-addiction and drug abuse
-antisocial behavior
-obesity
-social outcomes
That's like saying an oncologist is really negative about cancer. There is nothing positive about a deficiency in executive functions. There is nothing to be gained by having a stunted capacity for working memory, being unable to plan ahead or stick to a schedule, being impulsive to the point that you are disrupting other students and or coworkers, being unable to properly regulate ones emotions, and not to even mention the loneliness, social anxiety, depression, etc that one develops due to being socially ostracized due to the aforementioned ADHD symptoms.
ADHD is a serious neurological disorder that ruins people's lives. There is nothing to be positive about (other than that it's treatable and manageable). A clinical ADHD diagnosis is a disaster, not something to tout as giving you some sort of edge up in "creativity" (because it doesn't).
Just because a person is a "trained clinical psychologist, doesn't mean there is no bias in their work. ALL SCIENTISTS - are aware they will have natural bias whether they like it or not.
My point: was that using Barkley to justify something "having no benefit" is not a good justification.
Looking at the negatives you've given here - these are all consequences of a lack of help, support and self-acceptance - where a person has fallen through society because of being different. We obviously get this a lot with adhders because we are different - society isn't set up for us at the moment - but people with adhd are NOT BORN WITH:
- obesity, addiction, antisocial behavior, low academic performances(don't get me wrong academia is fucking hard as fuck it sucks your soul and takes your life away...it also takes enormous strength of character to persevere)
I'm not knocking Barkley's work - no need to attack me here - he's done incredible things to make sure that adhd is regarded as a genuine condition that needs treatment, help and support - IT DOES.
On Barkley his work focuses specifically on the deficits - even his books focus on this - it focus on the negatives - again for good reason he wants people to take it seriously.
I notice btw - you're fixated on there just being "creativity" as a positive for adhd - and it being some disease (it's not fyi medically a disease) - so i'm not gonna sit here and start posting the papers which posit the opposite, that humanity needs these characters in order to thrive, or the recent papers that show if a person with adhd is put in a good environment for them - they thrive - because I think you're someone who will probably respond aggressively. I'm not going to bother posting about the amazing shit i've seen working with adhd kids either.
Because nothing I say is going to change you're mind. You sound mad as fuck and upset about adhd.
And I can't be fucked.
I've seen how bad it is - about 10 of my members with adhd have addiction issues - i'm under no delusion.
My Dad with ADHD died of alcohol, was in and out of prison. However - they never had help and support or knowledge of adhd until it was too late. :(.
My work: researcher in neuroscience and a software developer, adhd coach, have adhd and dyslexia, have 18 close family members with adhd(Nan had 10 kids, her mum had 10 kids, huge family), worked with kids with adhd for 3 years, give workshops on adhd, volunteer at a charity for adhd, run my own company part-time creating tools for people with neurodiversity and therapies for stroke and dementia patients.
I attribute my struggles to being able to better understand others with cognitive deficits - and it means I run a successful business with it.
If there's anything I can help with - please let me know.
A great reference for this is Dr. Russell Barkley:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Barkley
His Youtube videos/lectures are extremely insightful as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzhbAK1pdPM&list=PLzBixSjmbc...