> Standard counterpoint objection here that I'm not sure I "buy" ADHD. How much of it is just "being human" (and in particular "being a young human") in a world that's inhuman? Is it a coincidence that the condition was first "observed" around the onset of industrialization a couple hundred years ago?
To some degree, you are right. Many illnesses are defined by "suffers from ___ to a degree that it interferes with their ability to function effectively". The latter half of that means that mental illness really is affected by our surrounding culture and institutions.
You need food to live and in our world you need a job to buy food. In a world where all the jobs require effective social interaction, even mild autism could be debilitating. But in a world where there are jobs that mostly involve working with machines or animals, it could simply be within the realm of healthy mental variation. So is being on the autism spectrum a disorder or just a difference? Depends on what's on the classified page today.
But it's also important to realize that for ADHD, ASD, and other mental conditions, many people are far enough along their respective spectra that these are unequivocally real diseases that cause them profound suffering in ways that can't be blamed on "society".
Watching someone with untreated ADHD fail to hold down a mind-numbing meaninless dystopian capitalist hellhole job is one thing. Watching them struggle to reach their own personal goals ("just one more YouTube video and then I'll work on that novel"), take care of their physical health ("I'll start exercising tomorrow"), and build healthy long-term personal relationships is another ("I'm so sorry I forgot to call you back, again").
ADHD fundamentally interferes with a person's ability to enact long-term planning over time. This is a fundamental human need independent of the effects of industrial civilization.
To some degree, you are right. Many illnesses are defined by "suffers from ___ to a degree that it interferes with their ability to function effectively". The latter half of that means that mental illness really is affected by our surrounding culture and institutions.
You need food to live and in our world you need a job to buy food. In a world where all the jobs require effective social interaction, even mild autism could be debilitating. But in a world where there are jobs that mostly involve working with machines or animals, it could simply be within the realm of healthy mental variation. So is being on the autism spectrum a disorder or just a difference? Depends on what's on the classified page today.
But it's also important to realize that for ADHD, ASD, and other mental conditions, many people are far enough along their respective spectra that these are unequivocally real diseases that cause them profound suffering in ways that can't be blamed on "society".
Watching someone with untreated ADHD fail to hold down a mind-numbing meaninless dystopian capitalist hellhole job is one thing. Watching them struggle to reach their own personal goals ("just one more YouTube video and then I'll work on that novel"), take care of their physical health ("I'll start exercising tomorrow"), and build healthy long-term personal relationships is another ("I'm so sorry I forgot to call you back, again").
ADHD fundamentally interferes with a person's ability to enact long-term planning over time. This is a fundamental human need independent of the effects of industrial civilization.