Attention students and faculty: Learning with ADHD looks different

While I was in college, I studied long and hard for exams. I needed to. And I thought everyone else did, too. So, it drove me insane to hear other students talk about how little they would study, and how unprepared they felt the day of an exam — only to find out they aced it. They always aced it.

Not me. I now know that the way I was being taught didn’t make room for differences like my ADHD. But back then, I often blamed myself for not understanding what was put in front of me and for not working hard enough. I thought that I was the problem for not picking things up as quickly as everyone else seemed to. I felt like I was not good enough. And I felt like I was not smart enough to reach my goals.

So, I did what I thought I was supposed to do—what we all were supposed to do. I read and studied before class. I showed up and took copious notes. I raised my hand when I felt brave.

It turned out that to my peers, this was too much. I was excessive. So I stopped raising my hand, and I stopped taking copious notes. I felt insecure about putting in that extra effort. I regret that so much. My peers continued to excel as I was falling behind. And if I didn’t change something soon, I was never going to recover.