It's so odd that ADHD is so commercialized, medicalized, and stigmatized.
I got an ADDitude magazine from the library to look through for anything that could help my current research project. A little over a third of the pages have ads. A lot of them specifically marketing towards helping ADHD. About 25 out of 70 pages. Compared to National Review's 3 out of 60 pages or The Progressives 5 out of 70. There is literally a dedicated section for advertisements in ADDitude.
In the past this group has been helpful for me a few times, but its also heavy in pseudoscience. Plenty of the ads were for "ADHD supplements" and shit. But it's the thing you first come across when looking for resources.
I'm fully aware that ADHD is seen as basically the anti capitalist machine disorder. The main focus behind treatment is to increase productivity most of the time. Which has lead to people rightfully pointing that out before then unrightfully stating that it isn't a real mental disorder or disability. So then those of us with ADHD see the ones that are dismissing us and even go so far to over medicalize ourselves in the process. Or at least the second part is my experience and what I theorize.
And that really sucks. I look to the autistic community more than the ADHD community at this point for support with my developmental disability.
We could have, and still can, incorporate ADHD not only as an example of some mental illnesses are socially constructed based off of societal norms, and instead a more extreme example of most if not all mental illnesses constructed off of societal norms.
We could recognize that even though medication helps focus and some behavioral aspects, we still appear odd, neurodivergent, to people. That we learn how to go through the world differently and face plenty of stigma and discrimination. Not because it's a medicalization of "bad character" but instead of form of madness impacted by sanism.
