[Ben Lahnger]

I have ADD. You can have ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER. Or you can have ATTENTION DEFICIT with HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER, which is a subset of the range of disorders covered by ADD, not the other way around.

Also, the title of this thread annoys the hell out of me. Anyone who has ADD and wants to claim victim status should be criticized for leaning on the illness like a crutch.

Does it make my life difficult? Hell, yes! Does it make me mad, depressed, irritable, irrational and moody? Sure it does. And it makes many things in my life harder to do and/or accomplish. But once I was diagnosed, it became my responsibility to account for my illness and to adapt/adjust to meet the challenges of my life.

I've seen a man with one leg become an Olympic class downhill skier. I've seen quadriplegics play "knock the other guy out of his chair" basketball that made me want to cheer. I've seen a woman with MS reduced to getting around with leg braces and cuff canes, and yet she had more joie de vivre than many perfectly healthy people I know.

So don't call me a victim. And if anyone else here with ADD wants to claim they are a victim ... well, don't waste my time.

Do I think it helps in any way? Well, the general opinion is that people with ADD tend to be more intelligent and creative than the average person. I think there haven't really been enough empirical studies to determine that, and the disorder itself is still too much of a mystery to researchers.

But I would trade being a little less creative for being able to remember things better ... or being able to finish a project without losing focus.