Attention Difference Delight

 (c) by Mark Dempsey

After having recently encountered people recently diagnosed with ADD who were distressed by the diagnosis, I've concluded it's important to remember this "illness" can have a positive side.

Thom Hartmann--an ADD sufferer himself--points out that the different mental strategies for interpreting the environment are like the difference between farmers and hunters. A farmer can patiently manage a single plant or field of plants without worrying about danger on the horizon. A hunter scans the horizon for game, and must act (impulsively?) to decide whether to pursue a rabbit or a deer when both are within sight. 

Western "civilization" appears primarily geared to farmers, and often shuns or dismisses hunter consciousness as useless. But there are situations where even hunter thinking can make a positive contribution. 

One example: salespeople profit from quick assessments of the impact of their sales presentations. Hartmann contends that even Ben Franklin was a polymaths, mastering everything from electricity to "Franklin" stoves, to printing because he was an ADD guy. In my personal experience, one of the most brilliant software engineers / architects I worked with was diagnosed with ADD, but he could quickly fix problems that frustrated the "farmer brain" coworkers.

One Scientific American survey even points out that the families of truly innovative thinkers often have members whose mental states (or mental illness) are anything but normal.

So let's celebrate our neurologically diverse brethren (and sistren) as people who can make a contribution instead of mischaracterizing them as useless and impulsive.  Diversity is not optional, and often contributes to human progress.