I raised a boy with ADD and few other acronyms and my wonderful wife also has ADD. What I have found to be true in both of the above people, and others who I have come in contact with in my life, is that ADD is not a disorder, but rather an incredibly busy mind. I have sat and watched my son for years and now my wife. What they both have in common is an ability to take in everything that is happening around them even when they appear to be focused on something else.
My sons mother and I divorced in part over this issue. All she wanted to do was keep the kid on drugs with the help and encouragement of the school system. All I wanted to do was get him off drugs and help him understand what was going on and to teach him how to deal with his “condition”. And as an aside, I always found it interesting that the drugs of choice were “stimulants”. Why would you want to stimulate disorder?
Slowly I gained control and when he finally moved in with me and I was able to wean him of his drugs he started to realize what was going on. “I have a hundred thoughts going through my head at once!” he said to me one day. That is at the heart of ADD. Multiple thoughts. The can’t calm their thoughts. But they can pay attention to anything they want and in most cases multiple things at once. We call it that a “deficit”.
In my research I discovered many talented and brilliant people through out history who “experts” now claim had ADD...
I digress, I do get the “meds” comment...