10 Advantages of Having ADD
There is a widespread and mistaken belief that having Attention Deficit Disorder or ADD is a bad thing. Even as the ADD “afflicted” brain without doubt holds out a few challenges, it puts forward a few hard to believe advantages, as well. Not to toot my own horn or anything (as I “suffer” from ADD), but to help my fellow writers with ADD (research shows that writing is career that often attracts people with ADD), I’ve listed below a few of characteristics that I have seen over and over again in people with ADD.
1. Empathy
People with ADD have a highly developed capability to identify with others, and to see a lot of diverse points of view. Maybe it is because we take in a whole lot of information all at once. Maybe its because we had a tough time socially when we were growing up. Who knows? It’s just something I’ve noticed.
2. Ingenuity
I have on no account come across a a person with ADD who was not ingenious. Painters, designers, sculptors, film makers, writers, musicians and comedians — the list goes on. Creative aptitudes are plentiful. Composers Mozart and Beethoven are assumed to have had ADD, and possibly Leonardo da Vinci, as well.
3. Enthusiasm
When a person with ADD is fed up with a job, finishing it can look like cruel torment. But provide this same person with an attention grabbing task to work on and look out. When we would like to achieve something, and we have the essential tools to do so, there is no stopping us.
4. Problem Solving Capability
People with ADD flourish on deciphering puzzles and problems. Provide us with an attention grabbing problem to crack and we will not be able to leave it until we have established the explanation (or give up in disgust — I never did figure out the Rubix Cube and don’t even get me started with the computer game Myst!). Significant historical inventors such as Thomas Edison and Thomas Jefferson are thought to have had ADD.
5. Hyper-Focus
The capacity to hyper-focus is something that people with ADD can make good use of. Sure, it can stop us from occasionally seeing the forest for the trees, but, when kept under control and aimed toward fruitful takss, it can be an unbelievable positive feature that allows us to get the work done, and done well.
6. Sense of Humor/Flair for Comedy
My mother told me that as a baby I loved to laugh and make others laugh. Nearly all people with ADD love to laugh. And a lot of them have an ability to make others laugh as well — well known comedians such as Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams are believed to have ADD.
7. Spirit
There is no doubt that despite the many great benefits that come along with ADD, there are also challenges. But people with ADD have a hard to believe capability to spring back back from those challenges, and others’ condemnation of those challenges that we have undergone. (There are exceptions though, especially if such a person starts to self-medicate with illegal and dangerous drugs.)
8. Intuitiveness
Because our sensory filters are the greatest, and therefore we tend to take in all information at once, people with ADD have a quick sense of perception. This may be as a result of extremely refrained intensity of awareness, or great innate knowledge of the human mind, or something else that we have thus far to comprehend. No matter what the explanation is, it is a very valuable gift.
9. Idea Generating
People with ADD are brilliant proposal makers. We do not by and large like to be troubled with particulars, but we can crop up with thoughts in no time at all. We are a real benefit in brainstorming meetings. I believe it is in part because we are able to make juxtapositions that others don’t see.
10. That “Special Something”
A lot of people with ADD believe they have an exceptional way of looking at the world, a point of view that others simply do not comprehend. That is, until he or she comes across other people with ADD.
I hope that this little list helps you understand ADD a bit more. If you or someone you care about has ADD, remember the bright side of this most unusual coin.
