No it's a disorder. What you're saying may be true to an extent, but understanding how the condition works, and how people function, it's a disorder. I think that's a step beyond what you said.
Not everyone with unmedicated and untreated with ADHD may feel like they have trouble functioning or a disorder, but many do. It's obvious if you look at their lives. Many kill themselves over it.
It may be true that a better fit for society could be incredibly helpful. In fact I think it may be one the single most beneficial thing we could do for ADHD. That said, lots of people with it feel it's a hindrance. ie. they can't live meaningful lives.
Suppose there was a perfectly accepting society, what would that mean? I just drift around starting and stopping hobbies, not forming deep friendships, contributing to society, or even big pointless achievements like building some big sandcastle? This is really the ultimate solution?
Ideally, people with ADHD should be able to choose to conform or not based on how they feel the condition effects them. We can find solutions that are practical (unlike previously described).
To get back to your key point, perhaps there is some hypothetical society where ADHD thrives. It's not now. I doubt it was ever for some people with ADHD. It's harsh, but basic life is really hard for people with severe ADHD.
My theory is that there's advantages also, that may be completely disconnected with the drawbacks. It could just be that some people have a type of ADHD that has really have negative symptoms. I'm also confident it's heavily under-diagnosed, and a small percentage, but huge number slip detection, based on it being "their personality".
So I guess I have two opinions on this, maybe they balance out.
Opinion 1, adults should have options/facilities available to them to enable their functioning in modern society which supports administering ADHD treatment (medication) if they so desire. After all, every living thing dies alone.
Opinion 2, children (in the US, and teenagers in particular) are over-diagnosed with ADHD and various other disorders which is a direct consequence on the obsession with academic achievement.
Bottom line, if everyone needs to be on medication in order to be productive in a society then it's the society that has the disorder not the individuals.
> Bottom line, if everyone needs to be on medication in order to be productive in a society then it's the society that has the disorder not the individuals.
A huge percentage of the population aren't even suspected of having ADHD, because they clearly don't. This has become a silly trope, but it doesn't match reality for people with the disorder. It's a far cry from "everyone". There's a very specific cluster of behaviors that may get better or worse over time, but rarely go away.
Our obsession with academic achievement is harder than it seems to address. It will require a fundamental change in society, like capitalism or communism. Even if you get rid of the academic component, it will simply be replaced with some other filter (smokescreen for the elite?), with some unable to keep up.
We need it so that people can live doing pretty much nothing that generates profit. The system doesn't support large numbers of people here, and they often don't do very well, either. Some things could help and we should do.
It seems that we don't really value academic performance. We want a high stakes game to decide who gets to be rich and poor. This fundamentally would need to change, and I don't see an end in sight. We need ladders and nets, and to support careers that don't follow the high_school -> university -> career -> retirement, with no room for interruption.
I recall a real sad comment on reddit about someone that wound up depressed very recently in high school. What he described was the grind of classwork, fitness, and chores that seemed impossible to bear. Get home from a run, try to force your brain to study, then immediately sleep... and for what? You do this forever, now!
