After reading Cody Cass’ Etcetera article “Campus
resources available for students with ADD,” (August 26) I
must say that I was offended. Being an individual with attention
deficit disorder (who gets good grades) and an advocate for the
disabled community at UCLA and at the state level, I’d like
you to consider the following.
To begin, “handicapped” is not an acceptable term.
In the future please use “disabled.”
Secondly, not all professors automatically assume that students
with ADHD (“H” is for hyperactivity, and ADHD is now
commonly used to refer to both the inattentive and hyperactive
types) are stupid. Many professors are very accommodating once they
learn of the student’s disability. Unfortunately, not enough
students with ADHD personally disclose their disability to their
professors, which may result in students’ assumption that the
professor thinks they’re stupid.
The most successful, single intervention is medication
(typically stimulant medication such as Ritalin), and when treated,
individuals with ADHD are actually less likely to abuse alcohol or
other substances than those in their age group. After mentioning
problems that could result from not getting treatment, Cass really
should have mentioned treatment options. Cass has done a disservice
to readers by failing to inform them.
Not all UCLA students with ADHD have gotten bad grades
throughout their school career. Actually, Yulin Sun (the student
mentioned in Cass’ article) is not the norm. Most students
with ADD that get into UCLA do very well in high school, just like
all the other students who get in. They are either not diagnosed
until they get to UCLA and start failing classes, or they were
diagnosed at a young age and do well throughout their academic
career. How many UCLA students with bad high school grades can
people name?
ADHD is not an affliction. It’s very unfortunate that Cass
seems to think it is. ADHD is a neurological disorder that affects
processing speed because the glucose in the frontal cortex of the
brain moves at a slower rate. Stimulant medication is used because
it pushes the processing speed back to almost-normal. Depending on
the severity of ADHD, medication coupled with good classroom
habits, like sitting in the front of the lecture hall to cut down
on distractions, can get rid of most symptoms.
ADHD typically coincides with another learning disability. This
is what generally causes academic difficulties to persist after
treatment.
Before Cass writes another column on ADD or any column regarding
a disability, it’s important to understand that not all
students with ADHD are doing badly.