ADHD: Disorder or Difference?
Thom Hartman helped me a lot after I got my diagnosis at age 40.
https://www.thomhartmann.com/articles/2007/11/adhd-disorder-or-difference
The "Hunter in a Farmer's World" metaphor was first used in the original 1993 version of "ADD: A Different Perception" to characterize the life situations in which those with ADHD often found themselves.
The metaphor is now popularly used to refer to subsequent Thom Hartmann books many of which address the ongoing wounding of our children by those who still portray ADHD/ADD as a disease. "ADD: A Different Perception " has recently been called a "Just So Story," "mind candy," and "unreputable" by the editor and owner of a privately published subscription newsletter.(2),(12) The editorialist's surprisingly harsh front-page commentary is in response to a book that was foremost a story told by a father (Thom Hartmann) who wanted to find an alternative to what he considered an emotionally destructive story told to his son about the way his son's brain functioned!(16) Although initially flattered by all the recent attention Dr. Barkley has shown the earliest version of the Hunter/Farmer hypothesis, we find it tragic, self-serving, and blatantly unscientific that he would present it only in part, and that the part he'd choose was significantly misrepresented.
"ADD: A Different Perception" provided a more feasible (and substantially more accurate) reinterpretation of the widespread fable used by those who wish to depict ADHD persons as "deficient" and "disordered." In subsequent Thom Hartmann books and articles, more attention was directed toward building the skills and self-esteem of ADHD children and adults. These efforts have been widely embraced by many, but aggressively opposed by those in the ADHD circuit who responded to our call to keep ADHD children's egos intact with, for example, Barkley's Marie Antoinette-like retort , "If feeling good is the clinical goal, then why not just give them heroin ?"
2) In contrast to such unfortunate and derisive rhetoric, the Hunter/Farmer hypothesis maintains that self-esteem is not a drug used to pacify but a sword that can be used to fight off the evils of despondency and self-hatred, and to provide hope for ADHD children.
You can google books about ADHA by Thom Hartman.
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