Why ADHD is a Superpower

From a very young age, my parents noticed that something was a bit different from me. I had trouble sitting still and paying attention. After they talked to my pediatrician, she diagnosed me with ADHD. When I was old enough to understand what ADHD was and how it affected me, it bothered me, as it would for any child. But I figured it was the hand I was dealt, so I might as well just deal with it. That said, I have taken medication for it pretty much since I was diagnosed; however, medication doesn’t alleviate all of the symptoms, and in my case, helps primarily with the hyperactive aspect of it by mellowing out my personality quite a bit. That said, pretty much everyone I know understands I am far from being a mellow person, even while on the medication.

As I’ve gotten older, however, I’ve come to see ADHD as a superpower of sorts. Sure, it has its negatives, like not being able to hold trains of thought for very long and struggling to pay attention to anything for more than a few minutes. However, I view most of the symptoms as positives. In my field of computer programming, a great deal of creativity is required. At first glance, programming looks very logical, and it is up to a point; however, once you learn how to use the languages, you’re provided with the opportunity for near-endless creativity. As an analogy, you can’t write creatively in English until you know English first. But after you know the language, you’re unleashed to write motivational things, sad things, happy things, and everything between. Programming isn’t all that different.

One thing I’ve noticed programmers without ADHD struggle with is devising ideas for projects and how to flesh out those ideas into a functional program. This is in no way saying that programmers without ADHD are incapable of these things—they certainly aren’t. However, after talking with many programmers with and without the diagnosis about this, I’m confident in saying that these skills come much easier to those with ADHD.

Fortunately, though, ADHD has provided me, and many others, with other benefits. Another that comes to mind is one I also listed as a disadvantage earlier, which is getting distracted easily. In a learning environment, this can be a big setback. However, in personal conversation, I’ve noticed that it helps a lot with coming up with conversation ideas and helps to keep conversations flowing. Also, when sitting around, swimming around in your thoughts, this can help a lot with staying positive. In my case, I’ve found that when I start thinking about something sad or depressing, I very quickly get distracted from the idea, and shift to a more positive thought. Of course, the same thing happens when thinking about positive thoughts, however, these thoughts often are just replaced by happy thoughts.

In conclusion, I’d encourage anybody struggling with an ADHD diagnosis to look at the benefits that it gifts instead of the negatives. Most of these positive aspects relate to general creativity. Once you are aware of and learn to adjust for the negative aspects of the “disability”, you can truly embrace the positive aspects of the condition.