Image Description: Arturo is standing on the left of the picture, in front of a telephone pole with his arms crossed. He is wearing a pink hoodie, jeans, and sunglasses. He has a serious bearded face. To the right, is a plentiful cactus plant. Behind a gas station that reads “kinda tropical”.
Arturo’s Story
Being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult is weird. Suddenly so much of your life makes sense, like now I know why I always forget something at home when I’m about to leave. But the other thought that would enter my brain is that I was not enough. I would think this because I would fall short. I always over promise but underdeliver. There was always this nagging voice at the back of my head telling me that what I was doing was wrong, that I was not giving enough, that of course life is going terribly because I thought I knew what was best.
All of those things were untrue. I knew then and I know now that its not true.
To combat this I would face them head on. I tell myself that I am enough, that I am right and that I know where I want to go in life. ADHD is not a hinderence. It is not an unbeatable monster. ADHD is a friend that tells you EVERYTHING. ADHD tells you; what you are stressed about, because you (I) avoid it and get anxious about it; where you can find happiness, because you will be obsessed with it; what you don’t like, it calls attention to the things you like (day dreaming).
I have ADHD. But it is not who I am. I am whole. I am a person. A person who is enough. A person who adds value. A person who loves ,cries, and thinks. ADHD is a part of me, a part that I have struggled to come to terms with. But, the ADHD is not going to go away and neither am I.
My ADHD makes me feel empowered. I have the power to think about many things at once, to see details that others skip over, connect with lots of people because of my never ending thirst for knowledge and the dopamine that comes with learning. But aside from my own actions it is my community that supports and empowers me. Like IDJ empowers me to share my experience, allowing me to fill a me-shaped hole in my community. Spaces that allow creatives to work, are empowering because it tell me that someone wants to hear our story, see our point of view.
What does not make me feel supported are the suspiciously low number of callbacks I receive when I self identify as having a disability. What does not make me feel empowered is the stripping of our Universities majors to “better reflect the job market”. The market does not make me feel supported, because there was a time when mental asylums where the solution the market dictated.
Investing in people and programs to let people express themselves , no matter how difficult the truth, will always be more supporting than pretending that people with disabilities don’t exist. The difficult truth is that everyone in their life will at some point experience disability. We need to support and empower those of us who are disabled now, so that when we are disabled we can work together and find out. What that looks like is investing in these communities, investing in their voices, and making sure to keep those voices at the decision making tables.
About the Author
Image Description: Arturo is standing on the left of the picture, in front of a telephone pole with his arms crossed. He is wearing a pink hoodie, jeans, and sunglasses. He has a serious bearded face. To the right, is a plentiful cactus plant. Behind a gas station that reads “kinda tropical”.
Arturo Contreras Mejia is a 27-year-old Mexican Man. He is currently a student at IUPUI studying digital marketing. Arturo is an Indianapolis creative. In his free time, Arturo enjoys spending time with his loved ones.