Genius resides in ADHD
It was the final evaluation I had to perform as the appointed teaching assistant for the presentation module. Students had prepared amusing, informative, creative and even touching personal experiences. While enjoying their ted-talk like speeches, one student caught my attention from the start. It was that at the beginning of the speech he said that he had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) some time back in his childhood. I was about to jump from my seat since it was so amusing story that I studied on this disorder for my research project and it was so nice to find a person who is willing to share his/her experience since all I had imaginary ADHD subjects with certain qualities in my head. That student made me think that he was such a genius in the way he talked and how determined and how inspirational his talk was.
Well, enough of the story.
Now comes the question that whether a genius can reside in an ADHD subject. The answer is yes.
Even though the pathology is uncertain and most of the ADHD child patients tend to prevail this disorder to adulthood, this disorder has some unique characteristics that may appear as some kind of inherent genius.
If we come to the statistics, 7% of the entire world population is diagnosed with ADHD according to the latest survey conducted by the American Psychiatric Association. Thus this covers mostly children of age between 7 and 14 where ADHD is found to be the most common form of mental disorders among children. The main symptoms can be identified as inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.
As Professor Michael Fitzgerald suggests, ADHD subjects tend to spark this genius behavior due to their hyper-focus nature. Further, he states that,
“ Clearly ADHD is not a guarantee of genius, but the focused work-rate that it produces may enable creative genius to flourish. ”
This particularly justifies the creativity gained through a substantial amount of focus in a particular area of work.
Some notable examples of such genius can be introduced as English poet Byron, the great artist of 20th century Picasso and Kurt Cobain, the former Nirvana songwriter. These people had extraordinary talent in what they performed which was developed as a skill from ADHD symptoms.
What is amusing with this disorder is that even though these subjects are found to be inattentive as a prime symptom, they have a super ability to concentrate on an area of their interest.
Hence it can be concluded that well-structured work on a particular area of interest for people with ADHD will be immensely beneficial in their lives to develop happy and healthy habits and become successful.
Let your child, friend, neighbor, peer who is diagnosed with ADHD a chance to find his/her study of interest and build upon that. Keep in mind that diagnosed with a disorder is not their fault or your fault but how you react to that will define that one’s future.
Happy reading!
