Honey Badger

Source: etsy.com via Elsy on Pinterest

Refer to the video below if you do not know the greatness of the honey badger.

Struggling with ADHD

Now that I am back at home, I am re-encountering the brokenness in my family that I had gotten used to not  seeing while away at school. I am currently reading ADHD: the facts by Mark Selikowitz with the hope that it's not too late to "help" my brother and to change my own attitude about my current living situation.

So far, I've read many letters from frustrated and helpless parents, similar to my own, and my parents are also expecting my brother to snap out of it because of his age. And with my brother getting older, his condition is having a more noticeable impact on his life. One thing that bothers me is how these kids are mislabeled as broken and hopeless, but as a believer of a god who is the good Creator, I know He doesn't create broken things (sin is what causes us to be broken). We consider them broken because they cannot function in a society with certain expectations that they alone cannot meet. Perhaps evolutionary biology could explain how having ADHD does or does not improve the survival rate of humans. Whatever the case is, it does not give us a reason to devalue another person. 

I might have first picked up this book looking for ways to fix my brother, but what if I don't believe he needs to be "fixed" anymore, at least not the way I originally wanted him to be. I want to be able to understand what goes on in my brother's mind. I don't just want to create excuses for his behavior. I want to be able to understand, help my parents understand, and help my brother understand, so that we can all have patience with each other. As I continue to learn more about ADHD, I will need to focus more on how I could be of help from now on, instead of on the mistakes we made in the past. Most of all, I don't want my brother to think he's a failure or a disappointment. Part of me is also worried for my brother's future, but that's between me and God.

I know I said I didn't want to fix him, but if there is any reason to help my brother behave more appropriately in this society, it is because others do not understand. While ADHD is becoming a more common diagnosis in children, most people, including teachers and parents, are ignorant in they way they approach them. The most common and, I think, worst responses we can have is labeling them as "stupid," "lazy," and other similar, negative terms. I am guilty of this and I hope to never do it again.