Q. When did you first learn you had ADHD? How did you react? 

A. 7th Grade, felt a little lost, confused, not sure if I should blame myself, my parents, or anyone for that matter.  But when my dad disclosed he had ADHD it was a lot better. 



Q. How do you personally define ADHD? 

A. For me, my ADHD makes me change trains of thought very quickly so it is very important for me to get thoughts on paper quickly.  I have great work ethic if I get excited or motivated about something but often I am pretty scattered and need something like competition or a group working together to get me to focus.



Q. Are you proud to have ADHD?

A. Yes 



Q. How do you think people without ADHD define it? 

A. People who are forgetful, making excuses, hyper, annying, dumb, hard to work with. 



Q. Do you think that people without ADHD look at it as a negative or positive?

A. Negative 



Q. What are some of the positive characteristics ADHD gives you? 

A. Creative thinking skills, hyperfocus, thinking outside the box, multitasking, always working on something, good people skills, friendly. 



Q. Has there ever been a time where someone has misunderstood your learning difference? How so? 

A. A lot of people that that when I say I have a learning difference, I am trying to get out of group work, but really I mean that I would love to take on a leadership role in the group because that helps me stay focused. 



Q. What kind of accommodations do you use in class? How do they help you? 

A. Tennis balls, water breaks halfway though class, and doodling. The provide me with just enough stimuli to remain focused. 



Q. Have the majority of your teachers been good at making sure you get your accommodations? 

A. Yes



Q. How do you advocate for your accommodations? 

A.  Just talk to the teachers the first day of class. 



Q. Have you ever taken medication for your ADHD? Are you still taking them? Why or why not? 

A. Yes I have, I am not taking them anymore but I use to take Concerta 36mg. I just didn't feel like I needed them anymore, I am a Senior in college now so I've gained a lot of meta-cognition skills while at college. 



Q. What were the side effects did you have from your medication? 

A. I felt like I wasn't as sociable when I was on them. 



Q. How does ADHD affect you in school? 

A. Makes it a little tougher, but I get by. 



Q. How does ADHD affect you socially? 

A. It is awesome! I wouldn't have half the friends I do now if it weren't for my ADHD. 



Q. Have you ever been able to overcome a challenge because of your ADHD? 

A. I think in athletics i has helped a lot and also the SAT would have been much more difficult without ADHD (being able to flip back and forth between sections made the test easy) 



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