Hi, my name is Kate. I was diagnosed with ADD as an adult (18) and although there was a time where I didn't think I was going to be able to even finish high-school, here I am in my last year of of college before getting my degree! I am an industrial design student, which means that I study product design (any product - stereo equipment, sports equipment, cars, furniture, door knobs, water bottles, mp3 players, medical equipment etc that people use). For my thesis project, I have 8 months to design, produce, package and market a product or service. I have chosen the topic of Adult ADD for my thesis. This is where all of you come in: have you ever had any wild ideas about what would help you through your day? Have you ever said, "if only there was a..." . I am interested to hear any responses from ADD or non-ADD adults. I have my own opinions on what would help me, but I need to know what other people think/ want. What do you find difficult in daily life? Organization? Memory? Emotional problems? Family life issues? Frustration? Isolation? Inability to concentrate for long periods? What happens in the workplace? Do you feel as though you can adapt easily? What are you personal methods for dealing with these situations? I am interested to hear any feedback at all, as it will be very useful to my project. Who knows, your wild idea could become reality:) Thank you so much for your time.
Kate

Hiya Kate...

I'm just off to bed (It's just after 11:00PM here in UK)
I read your Post and i needed, to quickly say, You are amongst others here, that know how you feel ; To be able to concentrate,sleep,finish tasks... etc etc...

I will come back to this thread tomorrow and share with you some more thoughts...

There is some Positive traits within, such a negative Disorder...
With courage and determination... You can get stronger and learn to deal with daily frustrations a bit at a time, to make your life better.
Us ADDers are strong, caring people.

I reach out my arms to Hug you... you can just shake my hand or nod your head...
But We(ADDers), know how it feels to 'not fit in' and be 'an outsider!!'...

Life can be lonely.. Or not... For that, is Your Choice...
Think Positive...
I'm 41 and i've been to hell and back... It's not been easy!!
But i'm alive and i have Children that Love Me and i can smell the flowers, see the birds flying in the sky and hear laughter... How lucky am i?!

Catch up with you in the 'UK' hours of the day LOL

Goodnight Kate.. Sleep well(when you retire to bed).. knowing that people, that you don't know, are caring about you, as you rewind the whole day within your head.. rest easy and Smile.. for You have more than many.


Karen :)

Congratulations Kate! :D Quite an accomplishment to be so near your goal. All things you mentioned are good -- especially organization, scheduling and so forth.

Scattered

Hi, Kate! Glad you're here. We need creative thinkers coming up with ways to simplify our lives!

Awhile back, there was a thread in the women's section about the "perfect purse" for an ADDer. Can't quite remember the thread's title, but you might check it out for ideas. Organization is a biggie for me, whether it's the mobile organization (purse, car, air travel, etc.) or the office (at home or place of employment). In fact, I recently saw something in a magazine that I wanted to check out but haven't gotten around to yet -- some sort of organizational thingy for the car, that I believe hooks onto the passenger seat. My car is a rolling dumpster, so something like that would be great!

Good luck on your project -- and if you're open to communicating about your industrial design field, let me know. My 20-yr-old son is in college and thinking about doing the same thing; he might like to hear from someone who's further along in it. (And he's ADD, too, so any college survival tricks you know might come in handy!)

I doubt this will make into the thesis but I presonally would like to see disposible socks invented. My children never had a match set, and I hate having to pin them together in the washer because I don't sort socks. They are always getting tangled up with other things in washer.

Household stuff also important to ADD life as we are either hyperfocused, disinterested, but mostly overwhelmed!!!!!!

Okay now you have heard every thing.

Welcome to the forums!!!!!

Kate,

See my hyperfocus thread.

Bob

Wild ideas?? All the time!! in fact I'm known for them :)
What really pleases me is when I tell someone one of my "crazy" ideas, and they think it's actually not such a bad one and go ahead and use the solution that I came up with to actually get something done.

For example, I work in the TV/Media/DVD production field and was producing a DVD on fishing, there was a segment that dealt with a particular brand of fishing lures and some shots called for illustrating the realistic action of a lure as it is being used from an underwater perspective - my collegue had tried heaps of things none of which worked quite right, he wanted a camera shot to follow along side the lure as it "swam" while underwater, but keeping up with such a thing with a camera in an underwater housing was impossible.

So I suggested that he use a small electric outboard motor and dip it in one end of a pool and string the lure in front of the resulting wash from the prop to give the illusion of the lure moving thru the water - so he went ahead and did it - it worked brilliantly!
I was ever so chuffed that someone had listened and used one of my ideas, even as unorthodox and crazy as it must have sounded at the outset :)

Regards,

-Matt/Crash-Dr

I can tell just by the tone of your post that you know that you will pull your project off beautifly. Add to me is part of who i am it always will be, I was glad when i was diagnosed because it explained alot of my behavior from my childhood but I have found that when it comes to my passion (writing, I have five novels) that I have never been hindered by my ADD. I think that true tallent and drive just go beyond the nerotransmitters that ADD effects. Insperation comes from that dark 90 percent of our brains that we know nothing about and I dont think that ADD gets there. I just wish that everyone in this world had a passion that ran so deeply that it overcame everything else. Hell, Im broke, single, move every six months, and never know where my next paycheck is coming from but i know that i have a gift and when i am using it nothing else matters because that is what i am here to do. Long answer to a short question but your desire and drive will win out, it has to.
Pith

What a great job for an ADD'er! You're gonna do very well.

If I come up with anything I'll let you know.

Long hard road, and everyday is still very, very hard. I am just lucky that i found something that i care about more than myself if that makes any sense. Because if i spent the day thinking or rather letting my mind control my thinking i become a basket case and dont know which way is up. I do work my a** off on my writing though, i dont know how i manage to keep it together but maybe its because i am not really dealing with myself while i am trying to figure out the next move or emotion of a fake person.
Pith