26 Positive Things about ADD and 46 Famous People With ADD

[Zacharias]

I found this neat article:

by Katherine West
September 23, 2000



Since we normally only hear the negative aspects of ADD-ADHD, I decided to list the positive qualities that most ADD-ADHD people possess. Although some of these qualities may lean toward ADD or ADHD separately, overall most people with this disorder fit very closely with almost all of these personality types. As I promised in an earlier column, here is the list of positive attributes that people with this disorder possess.

Extremely intelligent
Adaptable to change (they try new things)
Energetic
Visionaries or dreamers
Humble
Resilient
Hardworking
Athletic
Imaginative
Creative
Fun-loving
Very optimistic
Humorous
Determined
Insightful
Very visual
Trusting
Open-minded
Deeply compassionate
Artistic
Passionate
Sensitive
Verbally advanced
Mechanically inclined or very kinesthetic
Charismatic
Enthusiastic​

There are many celebrities, scholars, artists, poets, actors, comedians, scientists, musicians, writers, athletes, generals in the military, presidents, world leaders, and* even royalty who are now thought to have been ADD-ADHD or are currently ADD and/or ADHD. Many doctors and lawyers are also ADD or ADHD. The following is a list of just a few of these very famous people who used their high energy and creativity to become successful adults. What would our world be like if they had been labeled, ridiculed, and discounted as troublemakers or hyperactive misfits?

Einstein
Leonardo DaVinci
Socrates
Mozart
Beethoven
Thomas Edison
Alexander Graham Bell
Orville and Wilbur Wright
Steven Spielberg
Henry David Thoreau
Woodrow Wilson
Bill Cosby
Edgar Allen Poe
Nolan Ryan
John F. Kennedy
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Whoopi Goldberg
Ernest Hemingway
Dustin Hoffman
Abraham Lincoln
Galileo
William Randolph Hearst
George Bernard Shaw
Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat
Ann Bancroft
Magic Johnson
John Lennon
Nostradamus
John D. Rockafeller
Michael Jordan
Pete Rose
Bruce Jenner
Napoleon
General George Patton
Pablo Picasso
Babe Ruth
Harry Belafonte
George Burns
Andrew Carnegie
Salvador Dali
Dwight D. Eisenhower
William Butler Yeats
Prince Charles
Louis Carroll*
Eleanor Roosevelt
Louis Pasteur​

The world laughed at many of these people. The Wright Brothers were told by townspeople in the Ohio town that they lived in that they were nuts if they thought they could make their contraption fly. Einstein was told that he was stupid, and he would never learn. What do all of these people have in common? Not only did they have ADD-ADHD, but they also changed the world. Many of the people that I listed are still changing the world with their creativity, spirit, and vision. If you are ADD and/or ADHD or your child is, show them this list. Ask them what would our world be like if we never dared to dream? What would it be like if we never wanted to be different? Embrace your differences and strive to change the world!

Sources: http://www.adhdrelief.com

 

[issa]

i read a book that said add is a misnomer -

it is not a lack of attention but attention to too many things at the same time

and it is not a disorder just because it is only a percentage of the general population. it is a different physical make-up but no less a whole person.

i totally agree. add people are highly intelligent, extremely adaptable and all that!

 

[Tenorvoice]

Thanks for the info for all of us ADD kids/adults. I can tell you that it is very difficult to deal with @ times in my adult years!!!!

Alto I could have done without knowing that Henry David Thoreau , and Whoopi Goldberg
were on the list.

Thanks anyways.

Peace

 

[christian cutie danni]

I really appriciate this! I'm ADD, and i've been told countless times y countless teachers that if I'd just apply myself, I would get straight A's. This was before my parents told them that I was ADD. Now they have just given up on me. If I don't get something, and I ask them, they just say "Why should I explain it to you, you won't pay any attention." It's really frustraing. Especially being in middle school it's hard to be ADD, because I'm one of the only kids with ADD at my tiny school, and so because I'm differantm people make fun of me. It's not cool. But this lifted my spirits! Thanks so much! I'm going to print off this list, and anytime someone says something like that to me, i'm going to say, You know what? Einstine was ADD, and you know what, Whopi gouldburg is, and so were the wright brothers! And look what they did! Being differant isn't bad! It's okay to be differant!

 

[J3sus Is My L0rd]

Lol!! God bless his soul... but I looked through every positive attribute that was listed, and my good friend doesn't have a single one of them. Lol... well for instance... he is hyper, but in his case it is DEFINATELY not a POSITIVE attribute.

Hehehe but he has Jesus Christ, so thats awesome! But he has more ailments than JUST ADHD... altho his ADHD is very severe hehe... but, just keep him in prayers! hehehe Be blessed †

 

[Glisten]

I could swear my dog has ADD! Yes, he is rather intelligent.

Seriously, I have known some people with ADD, and they really are delightful people. It is sad that people keep telling them they are not, or they "don't apply themselves" - they apparently apply themselves rapidly, and in several directions at once. Talk about multi-tasking! Great talent.

 

[yeshuaskid]

Thanks Freak4JC,

I saw this article a while back and really needed to read it tonight.

God Bless...

 

[LavendarVanilla]

Thank you! As the mother of a son with ADHD (he's 14) I see that so many of these characteristics are VERY true! A little bit of positive-ness goes a long way!

 

[Zacharias]

A little bit of positive-ness goes a long way!

I know what you mean.

 

[Soc12]

I can't wait to add my name to that list in a few years. Also, it's amazing how many of those qualities at the top I have, especially the intelligent one!