Source:http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/add_main.html

For people with ADD, work is a battleground, where they endure daily assaults on their self-esteem and constant frustration. (ABCNEWS.com)

By Tristanne L. Walliser
ABCNEWS.com
Feb. 4 — Milele Landrum painfully remembers what it was like starting her work day.
“Our district meetings would begin at 8 a.m,” she says. “By 8:15 a.m., I was at my wit’s end. I’d begin to fidget. I’d need to go to the bathroom. I’d need to go get a cup of coffee. I was like a mischievous child—it was so self-sabotaging and often I felt very bitter and angry.”
Landrum, who is now a career trainer at Mount Hood Community College in Portland, Ore., describes a work life fraught with frustration and immobilizing confusion. “I’d never been able to stay on a job longer than 18 months.” she says.
Despite frequent job changes, Landrum considered herself “fairly successful in life.” It never occurred to her that she might have a real problem that was getting in the way of optimum work performance. But two years ago, she was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD), a condition that affects an estimated 6 to 10 percent of adults.
Like Landrum, many adults with ADD see the workplace as a battleground, where they endure daily assaults on their self-esteem and constant conflicts with coworkers.
“I’d been characterized as belligerent and a bully by my colleagues,” Landrum says. “If I had an idea or task that needed to get done, I would disregard all other ideas because I was so hyperfocused on what I wanted to do. But at other times, I would just stagnate and be overwhelmed by even the simplest tasks.”

To Tell or Not to Tell?

Workplace awareness of ADD has grown considerably since the passage of the 1990 American Disabilities Act.Under the provisions of the act, adults with diagnosed ADD can demand workplace accommodations, just like people with other types of disabilities.
But many people with ADD are reluctant to admit it to their bosses or ask for special help. If they don’t disclose it, they may have trouble on the job. Some fear they may lose credibility at work, or that they may even lose their jobs.
Whether you let your boss know you have ADD or not, counsels Dr. Lynn Weiss, “You need to learn how to use your ADD to your advantage.”
“The point is not to change you into a non-ADD person,” says Weiss, who has ADD herself and is the author of ADD on the Job, “but to make adjustments for they way you are. To use an analogy from nature, if you take a cactus out of the desert, and put it in swamp and it goes rotten, you don’t give it medication to keep it in the swamp.”
Other ADD experts agree.
“Above all, do something you like,” advise Drs. Edward Hallowell and John Ratey in their book Answers to Distraction. “Motivation overrides ADD, so if you’re doing something you like, chances are your ADD will not get in the way too much.”
Because everyone with ADD is different, the “right career” really depends on the individual. Some people with ADD need a great deal of structure, while others do well if they lots of independence.
“In general, ADD people are not well-suited to a regimented corporate jobs or a rigid hierarchical company,” says Dr. Kathleen Nadeau, a psychologist who also has the disorder. “A job that minimizes paperwork and is not too detail-oriented is very well-suited to the ADD person.”
The author of ADD in the Workplace, Nadeau advises people who have it to expect to have multiple career tracks, and to experiment with work till they find something that suits them.

Be Your Own Boss
Self-employment is one option for people with ADD, because the person who acts as his or her own boss is better able to control work flow and environment.
“One of the biggest problems I had in the workplace was not being able to deal with office politics,” says Melissa Petty, a Dallas psychotherapist who chose to become self-employed when she learned she had ADD. “Many ADD people don’t get the right signals.”
Because of these uncertainties, Petty was in a constant state of anxiety that she might be humiliated or get fired. “If you’re unhappy in your job, cut your losses and quit now,” she advises.
Let’s say you do like your job, but still have trouble coping. By getting professional help for your ADD and making a few workplace changes, experts say, you may see significant improvements.
“Now that I’ve seen a therapist, gotten medication and joined a support group, I’ve changed immensely,” says Landrum. “I’ve learned to use my time much more effectively. And I now use stackables, color-coding systems and highlighters all the time.”
It also helps in if you work in a place where the attitude towards ADD is enlightened, but that’s not often the case.
That’s too bad, say Nadeau, because ADD has a “tremendously positive side. ADD people are high-energy and incredibly good brainstormers. They will often happily work 12 to 15 hours by choice. The business community should not fear ADD. Instead, they should see that they have a potential gold mine here.”

My Desk Is a Mess! Do I Have ADD?
Who among us hasn’t had the occasional discombobulated day at work, when we feel messy, disorganized and incapable of setting priorities? What with endless e-mails, phone calls and meetings, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed at work. But does that mean you have ADD?
“ADD is like life these days,” write Drs. Edward Hallowell and John Ratey in their 1995 best-selling book, Answers to Distraction. “The fast pace of everyday life, the search for the sound bite, the proliferation of the fax machine, cellular telephones, computer networks, bulletin boards, and e-mail systems, our widespread impatience, all these very American traits are also very ADD-like.”
Given the similarities between modern life and ADD symptoms, it’s no wonder many people would turn to ADD as an explanation for their work problems.
Your desk may be cluttered and you may not be meeting your deadlines, but that doesn't mean you have ADD, says Dr. Martin Teicher, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
“To determine if ADD was the cause of your clutter,” says Teicher, “You’d have to go through a careful diagnosis. If ADD was not present before age 7, you don’t have it. ADD has to have emerged during childhood.”

Great article:)

Awesome article. Thanks for posting it!

yep! I can so relate!

Can be that the teachers missed the ADD in childhood? Dr. Teicher assumes that every teacher and every system had the knowledge and resources to get the child evaluated. This can be expensive and time cosuming for the teacher. As I understand it, children could have different types of ADD. If you don't have the disruptive types, you will not be referred to the professionals. If your parent is in denial, you won't be evaluated. If the district is trying to save bucks, they'll say we'll do it next year. If the teacher is young and inexperienced or sweeps things under the rug, the child is not evaluated. If the process is started in one district, and the student moves and parents don't follow through...

Many things could have happened in childhood, and the older you are the less it was known about ADD, no? So, to simply say "you didn't have in childhood" forget it, is dead wrong!!

I'm not a professional and this is my opinion, what do you think?

I agree with you, I grew up moving around in foster homes and jumping schools all the time, I had tests taken, but no one ever disclosed the results. And I don't have a way to go back and get them (files sealed). So current doctors can only go by medical records after age of 13 in my case.

1990 American Disabilities Act: I was not aware of this law, and I did not know I was suppose to tell my employer about my mental health. He does know cause I told him after wards about my problems, but can he hold that against me for not having disclosed this before hiring? If I am wanting to see what this does to help me in the work place?

Awsome Artical

Thank you for posting it.

You don't HAVE to disclose to your employer anything about your particular disability, but if you do, you cannot be discriminated against, or lose your job because of it. Depending on your employer, you may be able to receive certain accommodations for your disability, such as a quiet workplace, etc.

Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which took effect July 26, 1992, prohibits private employers, state and local governments, employment agencies and labor unions from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions and privileges of employment. An individual with a disability is a person who:

Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities;
Has a record of such an impairment; or
Is regarded as having such an impairment.
A qualified employee or applicant with a disability is an individual who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the job in question. Reasonable accommodation may include, but is not limited to:

Making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities.
Job restructuring, modifying work schedules, reassignment to a vacant position;
Acquiring or modifying equipment or devices, adjusting modifying examinations, training materials, or policies, and providing qualified readers or interpreters.
An employer is required to make an accommodation to the known disability of a qualified applicant or employee if it would not impose an "undue hardship" on the operation of the employer's business. Undue hardship is defined as an action requiring significant difficulty or expense when considered in light of factors such as an employer's size, financial resources and the nature and structure of its operation.

An employer is not required to lower quality or production standards to make an accommodation, nor is an employer obligated to provide personal use items such as glasses or hearing aids.

Source: The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

I agree with the post that says if you have ADD be propared for various job changes. I have found out by "the school of hard knocks" I can't do costomer service where all I do all day is sit in front of a computer and answer the phone. I should have known my mom always said " i spent the first twelve months teaching you to walk and talk, I haven't been able to teach you to sit down and shut up yet" I'm 40ish

I have nursed.. patients, co-worker, and my employeers like a walking talking nurses, I went to school for drafting so I could learn how to comminucate the pictures in my head to the out side world, I recycle for a living. I am what you would call a "renegead ADDer.. I am the organizational part of the business. What a shock with treatment medications, and education I LEARNED I WAS AN ORGANIZED PERSON, the plus I can organized for the disorganized ( that would be my partner )because I was disorganized most of my life.. see THERE IS GOLD IN THEM THERE SRUGGLES AND LIMITATIONS it lies in the over coming there of. I use my AutoCad for graphic designs, building plans, show pictures of my ideas on how to fix a product, I have created some coool business forms intergrating my AutoCad drawings with things like Publisher. Took a week-end to figure out. I don't mind because I have learned TO LOVE A GOOD CHALLANGE.

Tammy

You are absolutely right. Unless add is directly affecting the child's grades and life in general, the child won't be reffered. The inattentive type is the most likely to be overlooked, especially in girls...

What about Canada? What do our laws say about ADD and the workplace?

Several have commented about having or not having ADD from childhood. I was diagnosed for the first time with ADD at the age of 54. That doesn't mean I didn't have it before I was 54, it only means I wasn't diagnosed until that time. You just have to consider what you were like as a child to see if the ADD tendencies were present. It is not hard to recognize mine--even though I was never hyperactive.

Fantastic article. I want to take it to my boss and show it to her!

thanks for posting that i had adhd when i was a child but the doc said there is not enough proof that i had it for sure so now at 29 i felt i was getting worse so me and the wife went to see a psychologist and she said that back then they did not no enough about add/adhd and i took her test and she said i have adhd and some bipolar but she also said that the bipolar could be because i have adhd and she put me on a adhd med and said if this dont hlp the bipolar i might have to take a bipolar med with my adhd med


but one other thing where can i find a suport group

I have to share my 2 bits about ADD being undetected in one's childhood. I noticed that Dr. Teicher's comment was not that the ADD has to be detected by age 7, just that one would have it from childhood. At 42 years old I realized I am Inattentive Type ADD. I had never heard of that until about 6 months ago and would never have attributed my behavior to ADD, because I only knew of the Hyperactive type. It was never detected in childhood because I always did well in school. I am actualy stimulated in a learning environment. That is what enables me to focus. Plus, education was a high value in my family, as my dad was a university professor (the absent-minded - ADD - professor). I was an ideal student, taking copious notes and listening carefully to teachers - hyperfocusing on whatever the subject at hand was. Of course I procrastinated on any serious assignments (papers, exams) until I had enough pressure due to deadlines to produce the dopamine I needed to focus and get the work done - frequently pulling an all-nighter. It wasn't until college when I took classes in subjects (Chemistry, Physics) that completely disinterested me and I couldn't for the life of me keep up with the studying, and collected some C's and D's.
But then in graduate school I was interested in everything I was studying and got all A's through 2 Masters Degrees. So - I have always performed well in a learning environment where I am stimulated. It is just that once I get out of school and have to deal with the routine of work I get so bored. I probably average 18 months per job, and in some cases per career. I suppose I need to figure out a way to get paid to be a student. The closest I have come to finding that is my current job as an independent grant writer - doing grant research on a variety of subjects and writing grants to meet deadlines - earning dollars instead of grades. But still pulling those all-nighters! Agggh!

Have you thought of jobs that have very little routine. What about research, or some thing educated related scense you didn't mention liking high risk activities like sky diving which is why I didn't mention emergency medicine or entepneurship??

I have to share my 2 bits about ADD being undetected in one's childhood. I noticed that Dr. Teicher's comment was not that the ADD has to be detected by age 7, just that one would have it from childhood. At 42 years old I realized I am Inattentive Type ADD. I had never heard of that until about 6 months ago and would never have attributed my behavior to ADD, because I only knew of the Hyperactive type. It was never detected in childhood because I always did well in school. I am actualy stimulated in a learning environment. That is what enables me to focus. Plus, education was a high value in my family, as my dad was a university professor (the absent-minded - ADD - professor). I was an ideal student, taking copious notes and listening carefully to teachers - hyperfocusing on whatever the subject at hand was. Of course I procrastinated on any serious assignments (papers, exams) until I had enough pressure due to deadlines to produce the dopamine I needed to focus and get the work done - frequently pulling an all-nighter. It wasn't until college when I took classes in subjects (Chemistry, Physics) that completely disinterested me and I couldn't for the life of me keep up with the studying, and collected some C's and D's.
But then in graduate school I was interested in everything I was studying and got all A's through 2 Masters Degrees. So - I have always performed well in a learning environment where I am stimulated. It is just that once I get out of school and have to deal with the routine of work I get so bored. I probably average 18 months per job, and in some cases per career. I suppose I need to figure out a way to get paid to be a student. The closest I have come to finding that is my current job as an independent grant writer - doing grant research on a variety of subjects and writing grants to meet deadlines - earning dollars instead of grades. But still pulling those all-nighters! Agggh!
We are alot alike. I thrived in an intellectually stimulating environment. In clases that I hated, I couldn't motivate myself regardless of what I did..
:)

Hey Prolific,

I think I know of a career for myself. I could teach people how to interview and how to leave a job properly. At the age of 40, I have interviewed probably 75 times or more. I have had more than 40 employers and have exhausted about 4 careers. I enjoy the learning experience or for lack of better terms, the newness. Then I begin to struggle as the levels needed drop and what use to be easily done is now a real chore to even concentrate on. It takes everything in my power to force myself to see what I am doing. Does this sound similar to you? I feel like I could write a book about my job life. If you just get around to it.

Does this sound similar to you?
Uh huh..... *nods vigorously*

Hey, although I get the sense you weren't 100% serious about advising people how to leave a job, let's join forces and go into the career counseling field.

And I pretty much am serious. I've posted before about how this forum makes me want to learn to do career counseling so I can advocate for acceptance of ADD. Right now I'm thinking of studying to become a school counselor (guidance counselor) for the same reason.

Uh huh..... *nods vigorously*

Hey, although I get the sense you weren't 100% serious about advising people how to leave a job, let's join forces and go into the career counseling field.

And I pretty much am serious. I've posted before about how this forum makes me want to learn to do career counseling so I can advocate for acceptance of ADD. Right now I'm thinking of studying to become a school counselor (guidance counselor) for the same reason.
I'm not even sure how to begin. It does interest me. Do you think we should form a forum specifically to collect input from others? I do believe that the way you leave employment does have an effect on your next job and the interviewing process. I have an important question for you, do you ever spontaniously get so excited about doing something that you want to dive right in and learn everything there is to know about it only to fizzle out shortly after getting so involved? I have researched many careers and have tipped my toe in and loose interest.

do you ever spontaniously get so excited about doing something that you want to dive right in and learn everything there is to know about it only to fizzle out shortly after getting so involved?
Only on three or four different ideas a week, that's all. :)

This too is my biggest issue. I guess it is with most Add'ers. I have hundreds of ideas a day, notebooks full of plots, scripts, art, you name it.
I started writing a novel, which i took to a writing workshop, brilliant, they said it was fantastic and i should be a writer. It went in the drawer, never looked at it again.
I took up the clarinet. First lesson, teacher told me i played like someone who had been at it for 3 years. In the draw it went, forgotten.
and so on down the list.
I'm 29 now, and my daily stress is that I will never be able to have a job longer than 12 months, and that i will never get out of this 'permanent poverty' that all my little projects put me into. It seems once my brain is happy that it can do whatever my latest fad is, I lose interest in it. I'm good at everything, but great at nothing. Even medication doesn't seem to solve the issue, although it helps focus on certain tasks.
Is there a way out of this trap?

The 7 year old cutoff has been done away with due for lack of validity.

What Russ Barkley said at the Door CO.Conference in 2003, was that he was on the DSM-IV ADHD diagnostic criteria committee and someone basically "pulled it out of the air."

What he says now is "from an early age."

The info presented there in 2003 was repeated again in March at the UBH teleconference.

Those data indicated that hyperactivity usually emerges between 3 and 5 yrs old.

Thanks for posting that article.Was excellent.

In terms of my own struggles, today was day 4 on my 4th med change in 3 mos. That's actually hard to keep up with.

It's finally working but I've had some dificulties that ONLY someone with ADHD can really understand.

My schedule has been cut back to give me more time to get caught up.

However, on Mon am right as we opened, there wasn't anyone to take an oncall walk in, so I agreed.

The problem was that I was set upn and ready to get started. I was angry but didn't blow up on people.

It went well and I did a good job. The problem was tho that once I'm interrupted it throws me off for the day and I end up making mistakes.

Sure enough a really nice reviewing psych called me about a request for testing I had made in the middle of all that.

When she read it back,I couldn't believe I'd only put down one test instead of my usual ADHD battery.

I know that was the result of getting interrupted. Actually, every time something like that happens during a period when my meds aren't working, I make careless mistakes.

It also seems to take me a day or so to "clear my head."

It's better now, but I'm not taking anymore until my meds are back on track.

take care

mctavish23 (Robert)

I too believe that I have inattentive ADD. I have always struggled to pay attention in class and take notes (sometimes only registering about 10% of what was discussed), but until recently I have not identified my symptoms with ADD because of my reserved personality. If I were to tell people that I believe that I have a learning disability, they would laugh because I have always managed to earn good grades in advanced classes. I kept the frusteration well hidden, but it would often take me about six hours to write a two-page paper unless the pressure was really on because my mind would wander so frequently. As a recent college graduate and someone who is about to enter the workforce, I am concerned that it will hurt me professionally because of my difficulty processing verbal directions.
Can you recommend any literature out there that specifically addresses the inattentive type of ADD?

I am 32 and recently found out I probably have ADD. I had an appointment w/ my therapist to find out for sure (she had me take a test online that indicated I probably have ADD), but I got fired THAT AFTERNOON for making too many clerical errors! And get this - I am a licensed attorney and I got fired from a paralegal job!!!
I made it through school just fine, but in the work place I am too scatterbrained and can't seem to catch those little mistakes. I found myself finishing my boss's sentences and interrupting him to do it. When he asked me about projects I had worked on, unless I just got finished working on it, I couldn't remember! I felt like such an idiot!! I still do!!
I think I may be a bit OCD, as well, because I get stressed when I start something and can't finish it, like housework or when I am telling a story (ironic, ehe?). I do have a problem following through with ideas b/c I start doubting myself and my abilities.
I got fired in June and have been on unemployment ever since. I don't want to practice or do anything in the legal field, now, because I realize law is all about DETAILS. I don't want to put myself in a position to feel like an idiot, again. Unfortunately, I have no experience in any other field. The only reason I have experience in law is because I always held temporary positions, and even though I made clerical errors, I think my bosses knew I wouldn't be around long enough for it to matter. I am also very creative, though, and I am trying to find a career that will allow me to take advantage of that aspect, but an entry-level position won't allow me to pay off my enormous law school loans!! I am glad to have the law degree, but sometimes I wish I knew about the ADD before so I could have spent my time more wisely pursing a career that I would be good at and that would make me feel better about myself, rather than making me feel like an idiot.

Oh, Laniard....I do feel your pain; I'm in almost exactly the same position. And it's hard when people think you should have no trouble finding a job because...you are a lawyer.

I am 49, and have an MBA in Finance which I got about 23 years ago. My career has never progressed beyond being a Finance Director for smaller businesses ($5-7 million). I held a couple decent jobs when I was younger, but in the past few years my career has regressed....because I have problems with the accounting and bookkeeping parts of the job! How can I work in Finance with poor accounting skills? I got A's in all my Accounting classes, and an overall 3.8 GPA, but I am convinced now that it was because I was learning new things. Doing them everyday I get distracted and bored, I can't priorities and am always in crisis mode. I start things and get bogged down by some small detail I can't get past.

But as you said, I don't want to put myself in a position to feel like an idiot again. I'm looking at other careers, and people say 'do what you love', but I have no idea what that is.

Finance is about DETAILS too.....who knew? It will be good to hear more from you.....

Hello fellow adders!

Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou... I was just diagnosed a month or so ago and I am 39. I have had so many job problems but my biggest problem is... okay one of many of my problems on the job is sticking with it when things get tough. I used to think that I just couldnt work in a political atmosphere or in places where manipulation and chos rule. I thought that it just wasnt healthy for me and my anxiety would become unmaneagable then i would quit thinking I need to work and want to, but maybe just not here. The problem was never me....
I have been putting off my 4th attempt at completing a basic college math class because of the teachers not doing there job right....well now that i know more about my disorder math wont be so difficult but the fear of failing in yet another job situation bothers me...

just got my review at work--NEEDS TO PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL--I TRY!! I SWEAR I TRY!!! UUUUGGGGH!!! BUT WHAT DO YOU SAY: "excuse me I have ADHD" employers DON"T want to hear IT!

Of course I procrastinated on any serious assignments (papers, exams) until I had enough pressure due to deadlines to produce the dopamine I needed to focus and get the work done - frequently pulling an all-nighter.
So that's what it is! I got through college with a very decent GPA, even though I failed PE 100 twice. Eight to 10 page-research papers would usually be researched in 1+ days, then written in 1+ days--for some reason, I just couldn't start early. Pressure = dopamine!

this is all me to a T!

When I was about 6 or 7 - in catholic school - I remember having a fit with a nun that was the counselor who said I needed therapy or something further. I absolutely had a fit - crying screaming and all - this was rare for me since I was very quiet and kind. I fought it cause I believed it was bull, my parents agreed. Perhaps then it went undiagnosed?

Now I'm 25 and have went to 4 different colleges, one semester GPA of 3.5, next a 2.0. I've changed my major about 5 times. Art school, business school, Art school business school. Since high school I've carried a full time job. (retail, and office work). I don't see myself getting a degree unless I can go to school full time.

Through that experience, I too believe I'd make a great counselor.

Right now at my job, (I'm an admin assistant), I have a list of 6+ things to do and can not focus or even decide on one. This is ridiculous!? If I can't get it done the minute its given to me, it sits on my list until I feel better - usually first thing in the morning I can kill everything on my list.

I don't know where to go for help, or where to start. everyone blows it off (as they've been for 25 years) as it'll pass you're ok.

I joined here a while ago and found this place fantastic although a little overwhelming. I need to find time to hang out here and just read but I feel guilty doing that because my job is very demanding, I have an "inflexible" boss, and I have to juggle lots of projects at once.

Needless to say, it's all hard if you have "attention issues".

Well, I'm back here because I want to talk to more people who understand and it looks like so many of you go thru the same things I do.

I like my job but I know I'll never be great it.
I'd like to go back to school but that's something that I've done before and had trouble with.

*sigh*

Sorry - just venting because ya'll sound so similar to me...

Happy Humpday everyone.

HI. I'm new here. Have had ADD since childhood. Now 54, divorced, self-employed. I have held numerous jobs but never fit into the model employe mold. The only success I've had is in jobs where I am minimally supervised and compensated based on results - 100 percent commission sales. As long as I produced or exceeded my sales quota, the boss couldn't care less if I came into the office once a week to turn in my paperwork. No office politics.

About five years ago, another health problem prevented me from an outside sales career. I started an upholstery and furniture repair service. I learned it from square one. It's still a challenge - doing everything myself. I have dropped the ball a few times, but mostly customers are happy in the end.

Never mind that I have a BA in journalism and graduated in the top five percent of my class. That didn't get me hired. I am way too blunt with people (bosses) for my own good. Most of them are too stupid for words.

Anyway, I am looking at my ADD again and defining some realistic goals that will help me navigate personal relationships better, and to become better organized. Glad that I found this place. So much new to read after ignoring these issues for years. I find new hope here.

Hello fellow adders!

Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou... I was just diagnosed a month or so ago and I am 39. I have had so many job problems but my biggest problem is... okay one of many of my problems on the job is sticking with it when things get tough. I used to think that I just couldnt work in a political atmosphere or in places where manipulation and chos rule. I thought that it just wasnt healthy for me and my anxiety would become unmaneagable then i would quit thinking I need to work and want to, but maybe just not here. The problem was never me....
I have been putting off my 4th attempt at completing a basic college math class because of the teachers not doing there job right....well now that i know more about my disorder math wont be so difficult but the fear of failing in yet another job situation bothers me...
i think you should get a tutor. That is what worked for me.

Does anyone have times that when too much information if given to them, in a work invironment that they actualy zone out and fall alseep, resulting in lost productivity and and actualy being terminated from employment.

Babette, I also have to juggle many tasks at work and have a demanding, inflexible boss. He has commented that I cannot multi-task. He is right. I'll be working on something and he'll come into my office and want to know why I have not started something else. So I start that and then he wants to know why I have not started something else. Then to top it all off, he wants to know why I havn't finished anything!

just got my review at work--NEEDS TO PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL--I TRY!! I SWEAR I TRY!!! UUUUGGGGH!!! BUT WHAT DO YOU SAY: "excuse me I have ADHD" employers DON"T want to hear IT!

I worked with someone and that is exactly what she said too. She was over 50, and had worked multiple jobs, being fired or let go for poor attitude and lack of attention. Customers did not like her. It would not have always been so bad except for 2 things...she had a nasty attitude, sneaky and sly-had the nerve to say she liked it when it was not busy, oh really, well we aren't making enough money to pay you when you are not busy so you should go home! and if you gave her helpful tips, like writing down things, or gave her a list to carry, she still wouldn't. Then she would walk around with a "woe is me" attitude. I swear the only time she would perk up and focus was when there was free food around! Some jobs just aren't for some people, especially if you have ADD/ADHD...this was in the medical field, where errors could cost lives! Come to find out, she had worked in a different area and should not even had been hired (rehired) again....

You have to know yourself. I don't have ADD/ADHD like that, but I stress easily, so I work on myself with negativity and burnout issues. Someone, somewhere, always has something. :o

WowI can relate to your message. I am in the same boat. I have a degree in Accounting, I was such a poor student when I was in college as a teenager and in my 20's, I wound up going back to school in my 30's and going through an accounting certificate program and retook my accounting classes. I took 8 in a period of about 1.5 years and did well. It was after my divorce and I devoted practically all my spare time to classes and homework and studies. I then went on to pass the CPA exam (not in one sitting). That was 13 years ago. I never got certified because I was clearly different than all the other people I worked with. I couldn't sit still and be careful and do my work easily. After two attempts in public accounting I realized that something seemed to be wrong, and it was about that time that I went on ADHD medication. I have been mostly on stimulants, right now adderall XR 20. I finally last year decided that I needed a dose that would properly engage my brain and really let me sit still and think even when stuff was a bit harder.

I also have issues with visual processing, (would have been better off having chosen to be a speech therapist way back when. I am 50 now). I actually took a cognitive test on the computer at my neurologist's office. I passed the CPA exam and am good at math especially basic math yet I could not see and process simple math problems quickly on a computer. It's not my eye sight, I can see with contacts and glasses, it's the amount of time that it takes to register in my brain. (I started playing games on a nintendo ds, like brain age, flash focus, brain age 2, brain challenge ). They help in that I am more used to seeing info quickly and reacting to it, and it wakes up my brain in the morning. One of the games even tells me whether I am reacting slow or quick. According to the games my brain age is about 15 years older than I am on most of the games. My eyes cannot focus at all without at least 15mg of adderall, need 20 or more really but I doubt that my doctor's will ever let me take more again. Great for my brain but I had issues with raynaud's disease last year, and got told that if by my next visit to the rheumatologist if things were not different that changes would be made in medication and that might affect the adderall dose.

I currently work part time in retail, and I am also working at H & R Block part-time as a tax preparer. Last year I was a receptionist there because I had no tax background or experience, and it was good because I was forced to reduce my medication from 54mg of concerta to 10 mg of adderall. There was a major difference in me. I walked around feeling like an idiot. The simplest tasks took forever.

Now I am thinking about full time work, and need to find a good fit for me. I'm the one in 100 or 1000 that verbally can interview for a job and will perform at a speed so much less than expected.

I am also one of those people who with a high enough dose of medication can find something to like about any job and want to learn what I need to. I don't even tell people that I passed the CPA exam because I get so sick of the question why didn't you or why aren't you working as one.

I support myself so I would like to choose something that I can succeed in. My brother and his family have no understanding of how I feel about not being able to be an accountant, and of being sick of getting fired from jobs like A/P because I cannot do data entry quick enough based on what is probably reasonable expectations. I have no clue how my vision issues will impact me on a job, and how to discuss them with an employer or recruiter. I never have before. In the last few years I have done better with employers who did not interview me before I started working as a temp. I am thinking of asking agencies to send me out for stuff that I will be overqualified for and tell them not to tell the employer that I have an accounting degree.

Please help.

I currently work part-time in retail

Hi I am new here and I apologize if I am not doing this correctly. I feel quite discouraged as I can't find anything that I am good and make a survivable living. I am an expert at interviewing because at 45 I must have interviewed at least 50 times. I am now working temp to perm in an inside sales position which couldn't be a worse fit. Fast paced, extreme multi-tasking in a corporate environment. My guess is I won't be asked to go permanent because I can't go fast enough. My mind just blanks out with all the different options in the database, website, etc. At my age does anyone have any suggestions on what I could do? I do like to see things accomplished, things that allow me to get up and move around. I wondered if I should go back to school to be a Radiology Tech. I just would like to be good at something.

re: 38

First thing that comes to mind about someone in your shoes vocationally, is: "know your strengths".

For me, that meant "getting Tested".