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October is ADHD Awareness Month. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a chronic developmental disorder which can affect a person’s ability to focus, control their impulses, and be still and it is one of the most common mental health disorders. 

The term “disability” is often shrouded with a myriad of different associations, both mental and physical. However, often times people associate disabilities with physical ailments, such as individuals with handicaps, when in actuality a large minority of disabilities, especially among young adults, are mental. According to the National Library of Medicine, 15% of individuals age 10–19 are diagnosed with a mental health disability. One of the most prevalent of these disorders is ADHD, with over 10% of children in the United States being diagnosed with it at some point. Young adults oftentimes face more challenges at receiving an ADHD diagnosis as opposed to children. This begs the question: how are PCC students who live  with this “invisible disability” able to access vital resources to help them receive the care they need?

Amelia Verma, and Kaylee Pusateri are two PCC students living with ADHD. Verma emphasizes that although she is formally diagnosed with ADHD, she is not taking any medication for it, so her experience may be different than that of an individual who is taking specific medication to cope with ADHD.  

“The biggest way that ADHD has impacted my learning experience is through other people’s perception of me. I am interested in learning, and I consider myself smart,” says Verma. “But often people underestimate me. I feel pressure to prove my intelligence to others because often I am treated like I’m stupid.” 

ADHD can however have negative impacts for students, especially during the high school years. Students can struggle to meet deadlines, and have difficult times focusing inside of the classroom. 

 “I would spend hours on one assignment and procrastinate until the very last minute,” says Pusateri. “I just felt paralyzed.”

PCC offers a variety of accommodations for students with disabilities, including those with ADHD, through the Accessibility Ed and Disability Resources (AEDR). These accommodations include testing accommodations, note taking support, adaptive technology, counseling and academic coaching, course substitutions, reduced course loads, and more. Testing accommodations may look like extended time on a test, alternate formatting, or a different testing environment. Students can also receive help taking notes, use adaptive technology, and have access to counseling and coaching if they need it. PCC has attempted to broadcast a non judgemental environment for anyone with ADHD, an environment that cares about its students and their struggles.

“I haven’t really explored these options because I don’t want to be labeled as somebody with that (ADHD),” says Pusateri. “I’d rather just hold myself accountable for my responsibilities.” 

In that spirit, a huge fear for students with ADHD is this feeling of being judged or targeted by peers, friends, family, and especially teachers. Living with ADHD is a daily struggle. It impairs their ability to focus, which has a clear impact on their work. This means these students may turn in assignments late or incomplete, and be behind their peers academically simply because the school system is not built for their brains.

 “I’ve definitely felt targeted by teachers,” says Pusateri. “Many were not willing to make exceptions for late work and it felt very discouraging.” 

For some students and others who have ADHD, it is almost impossible to navigate the medical system and the stigma it perpetuates with ADHD. People who are neurodivergent can be targeted not only by the people in their everyday lives who may not understand what it means to have a brain that works differently than everyone else, but also by the medical professionals who are supposed to believe them.  It can be frustrating for these people, who have been struggling, sometimes their whole lives, to feel that they are alone in their struggles, having to fight to be seen, to be believed. People with ADHD have to figure out what works for them, whether this is therapy or medication, and they need professional help to figure it out. Some medical professionals may believe these people are just trying to ‘score drugs’ as some people have used medications/stimulants for people with ADHD to get high, but there are people who really need it.

“As a teenager, I felt forced to take high doses of medication by certain doctors. When it had adverse effects, other professionals blamed me for ‘manipulating the system.’ It felt like many people in the industry would view me as irresponsible no matter what treatment I was receiving because of this label. Something I’ve definitely had to work towards is advocating for myself medically, especially now that I have the legal rights to do so. This has helped me receive better care and helps doctors understand my needs.” 

Verma and Pusateris’ experiences highlight that although many PCC students are afflicted with ADHD and too many, the environment on campus is relatively welcoming. There is clear difficulty amongst many young adults in advocating themselves medically and her highlighting her experience in not being properly dosed or even being stigmatized for taking medication that has a small potential for abuse. This is a growing trend amongst adults with ADHD, with only ? of adults with ADHD actually receiving medication for it. Furthermore, upon visiting the PCC Health and Wellness Center, the receptionist stated that there is little the school itself can do in terms of providing a diagnosis for ADHD. The only thing the school itself could offer was providing an ADHD interest form and establishing a meeting with a school therapist who may be able to refer an individual to a psychiatrist for a prognosis. When setting up an appointment to discuss with a therapist regarding resources for ADHD, the Health and Wellness Center did not make any attempts to further reach out and discuss possible resources for individuals with ADHD that the school provides.

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