"Neither stupid, lazy nor passive...

[ronja-am]

- even though it sometimes feels like that"

That is how I titled my first public speech about learning difficulties in January 2009. It was not solely about ADHD, but I did describe my road to diagnosis and medication to illustrate how strong a positive effect recognizing the problem for what it is and getting treatment (including coaching) can be.

I also said clearly that I have been very lucky with medication,as the first one tried suited me well, and that nobody can count on the same effect from the same (or different) meds - it depends on each individual.

The slides are in Finnish, which was the language of the seminar where I presented. It was an interesting day. If you know Finnish, you can find the slides on SlideShare (I'm not the only Ronja there, but searching with the string "ei tyhmä" you should find them - and if you don't, you can PM me).

What should I say about myself?

I'll be 48 in May. I've had the diagnosis since the summer of 2004 (some 40th birthday present that was... ) and have been on daily Ritalin (lately alternating with Concerta) since the summer of 2007. Before the diagnosis, I feared I would never graduate - now I only have the latter half of my bachelor thesis to complete, and then I'll be done.

I'm married, and we have two girls (10 and 12) and I have my own business. I do editing, technical writing, coaching non-native writers of English and translating (English<->Finnish<->Swedish<->English), mostly working at home. I have thus far worked about 10-15 hours per week and studied a bit more per week than that. It will be interesting to be free to work some more this spring and summer.

Now it is getting to be time to wake up Younger Daughter (the Elder is up already, she's an early riser like me). Hubby is traveling, so I'm it when it comes to parenting this week.

Talk to you later!

[maiforpeace]

Hey there, girlfriend! *waves and hugs*

This woman is wicked smart, has the biggest heart, can be witty as a tart, and is a bloomin' sweetheart!