A couple years ago, I posted the below thoughts. I have recently received a few emails from people about acceptance and the right learning environments for people with ADD/ADHD. I thought the timing was right to share this post again.
I recently watched the movie Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs with my kids, for the 10th time. It’s a great animated kid’s classic from Sony Pictures. After I saw the 
movie, again, a scene popped into my mind where the star of the movie Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader from Saturday Night Live) it talking with his Dad. His Dad just wants him to work in the bait and tackle store but Flint becomes frustrated because his dream, passion and talent is in inventing and science. Flint’s Mom understood him, while his Dad did not.
Think about someone with ADD……..frequently they are not understood until diagnosed. Many are forced to learn in ways that are not right for them, or to follow conservative behaviour habits or careers that are stifling. Once diagnosed and managed, ADD can be a creative rocket that is exactly what a person with ADD needs to be successful. Many great people we are familiar with who are reported to have had ADD like Jim Carey, Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Bill Cosby, Winston Churchill, Walt Disney and Henry Ford have done just fine. Imagine if these great minds were contained, held back because they were different and never succeeded.
We simply can’t force people with ADD to learn, work or exist in a way that some people think they should. Work with them, encourage and give them the support they need to learn to manage ADD and become the great people they are capable of being. I’ll put money on it, that someday soon the next great thing will likely come from a person with ADD. The next Flint Lockwood!
