Personal Narrative: My Experience With ADHD
My family is extremely poor, living paycheck to paycheck and off of food stamps. My father is a construction worker/contractor who emigrated from Communist Bulgaria after the fall of the Iron Curtain, while my mother is a stay-at-home housewife with no higher education. As I grew older and more capable, naturally I was expected to help contribute in some way. This led to me having to constantly work and seek jobs from as early as 13 years old (typically babysitting or paper-route type jobs at this point). This is normal for a teenager, most teens work odd jobs for some extra pay, but most of the income I made had to be put towards paying bills. Balancing work and school life was something I learned to do early, however, it became harder to
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These disabilities drastically affect my ability to focus, especially on abstract concepts like math which require nuanced thinking and precision. ADHD also affects my organization skills, leaving me scatter-brained and forgetful. Leaves me with social anxiety and feelings of inadequacy, causing me to feel nervous about asking for help or clarification due to the (admittedly unfounded and ridiculous) fear I'd be thought of as "stupid" by my peers, which may have also played a role in my inadequate math grades. Looking back, I feel like I was and am capable of achieving more. I never used these disabilities as excuses for poor performance or justification for taking the "easy way out". My freshman year, I was placed in a "Study Skills" class as part of my IEP, but I felt like this was holding me back as a learner, giving me an excuse to slack off, and boxing me into a category as a "disabled person" who couldn't possibly progress. I was able to advocate for myself and convince my parents and my teachers that I no longer needed support services. I want nothing more but to be a productive member of society, to help inspire others who may be dismissed as lost causes due to their circumstances, and to develop and hone my knowledge into something that can change the world for the
These disabilities drastically affect my ability to focus, especially on abstract concepts like math which require nuanced thinking and precision. ADHD also affects my organization skills, leaving me scatter-brained and forgetful. Leaves me with social anxiety and feelings of inadequacy, causing me to feel nervous about asking for help or clarification due to the (admittedly unfounded and ridiculous) fear I'd be thought of as "stupid" by my peers, which may have also played a role in my inadequate math grades. Looking back, I feel like I was and am capable of achieving more. I never used these disabilities as excuses for poor performance or justification for taking the "easy way out". My freshman year, I was placed in a "Study Skills" class as part of my IEP, but I felt like this was holding me back as a learner, giving me an excuse to slack off, and boxing me into a category as a "disabled person" who couldn't possibly progress. I was able to advocate for myself and convince my parents and my teachers that I no longer needed support services. I want nothing more but to be a productive member of society, to help inspire others who may be dismissed as lost causes due to their circumstances, and to develop and hone my knowledge into something that can change the world for the