“Imagine somebody sitting on the keys of a computer, that’s ADHD,” says American fashion designer Steve Madden in a new film.
A host of celebrities have opened up about their journey with the condition in the documentary, which follows five families as they navigate raising children diagnosed with ADHD.
The film’s executive producer, Nancy Armstrong, has a husband, Tim, and three children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Through The Disruptors, she wants to change the way we think of ADHD from disorder to secret power.
Photo: supplied
Photo: supplied
We still struggle as a society to understand ADHD, Armstrong tells Afternoons.
“There’s a deep disconnection between what the public thinks ADHD is and what we actually we know it is from decades of research and hundreds if not thousands of studies.
“What we know is that it’s neurological, we know what part of the brain it affects, we know that it’s highly heritable and now we know from leading experts all over the country, and all over the world really, that while there are challenges that need to be managed with ADHD, there are also some pretty impressive strengths.”
Unlike the name suggests, ADHD is about struggling to focus due to a surplus of attention rather than deficit of attention, she says.
“They’re paying attention to too many things and their brain doesn’t differentiate this is the one thing you need to pay attention to right now.”
Armstrong says it was great to see celebrities coming forward to talk about the condition in the film, including will.i.am, Paris Hilton, and Howie Mandel.
“I think that that really goes a long way towards destigmatising ADHD, because certainly none of them feel it’s a bad thing to have.
“They definitely talk about the struggle growing up, every single one of them struggled, there’s just no exception to that rule, but the things they had in common that got them through childhood were parents … who were behind them, totally loved them unconditionally … and believing in themselves.
“A lot of times for people who grow up with ADHD, they’ve gotten so much negative feedback about what they don’t do well and what they can’t do and what they’re not doing … [that] it makes it very difficult to believe in yourself once you arrive at adulthood, so that’s the key.”
ADHD can be a huge asset if people find a way in life to accelerate the strengths it provides, she says.
“One thing David Neeleman says in the film is ‘if someone told me I could take a pill and get rid of ADHD, I would never do it’. And so I think that speaks to the power of the ADHD brain that he’s certainly learnt to leverage, he’s a serial entrepreneur as are so many people with ADHD.”
“[Serial entrepreneur Tim Armstrong] was one of the founding people, one of the first 100 employees at Google when Google was just a new start-up then went to AoL when it was sinking ship, I mean no-one would’ve done that.
“[It’s] risking taking and that’s on the topic of one of the super skills of ADHD.
“But he definitely has the challenges as he mentioned and he’s better at starting a company than doing the laundry, doing the laundry is like kryptonite for him.”
The film also tackles the various myths about ADHD, like the misconception it’s a discipline or parenting problem, she says.
“My son and I were kicked out of ‘mommy and me’ class when he was a toddler, that was pretty shocking as a first-time mum.
“One of the other myths is that it’s only boys … but girls have ADHD at the same rate that boys do, it’s just their diagnosis gets missed because they present so differently than boys.
“They are the daydreamers, they are extremely emotional and hypersensitive to rejection, so we miss their diagnosis, they become overwhelmed in school and then we attribute it to anxiety, so then they become diagnosed with anxiety or depression but the underlying symptoms are ADHD.”
Increasing awareness and education about the trait has meant we’re better equipped to diagnose people, she says.
“Every day I get five articles on ADHD, it’s the most searched term on the internet ... and it’s a global issue and this film has the power to helps tens of millions of kids and adults struggling to effectively manage ADHD and it’s time now to put a stop to the demoralising stigma around this neurological trait.”
