A couple of points:
1) There is lots of natural variation in how the mind (brain) works between individuals - the more extreme variants tend to get labeled as disorders, as they impede those that suffer from them, and their functioning in today's society.
There is also a tendency for the categories to be a bit vague, as they encompass several areas of variation - there are lots of brain quirks out there, even if some are more common than others.
2) The person who pointed to the change in learning environment is right on the money. While earlier, strict dicipline in the classroom made it easy to focus even for kids with attention problems, today "progressive", lax methods make it all but impossible.
3) Overprescription? I'd like some hard data here, even if I too get the feeling it happens. My personal anecdotes do not support overprescription though - the people I know who were diagnosed as ADHD certainly had some pretty major problems of a rather fundamental nature.
I have no objections to your observations. They are seemingly right-on.
"3) Overprescription? I'd like some hard data here, even if I too get the feeling it happens. My personal anecdotes do not support overprescription though - the people I know who were diagnosed as ADHD certainly had some pretty major problems of a rather fundamental nature."
Ditto.