You mention enjoying the representation for ADHD in Worm, compared to other media. What are the problems that occur in other ADHD characters, and why would it be wrong to assume that many kids have been misdiagnosed? (I’m not trying to say that you are wrong for stating such, I am genuinely curious.)
“But seriously, if I see indications that Wildbow himself thinks ADD diagnoses are illegitimate more often than not, I will take back that “well-handled”. We’re trivialized enough as it is.” At least in the states, the diagnosis is way over-used for things that are perfectly normal kid stuff, things every single kid in the world does. And that diagnosis has them taking pills they don’t need for years, with punitive measures on parents who don’t put their kids on unnecessary drugs.
I may have been a little too harsh in that moment.
More often than not, ADHD is treated in fiction as a joke trait, on par with “ditzy”. We’re treated as people who are just all over the place to an exaggerated degrHEY LOOK A SQUIRREL, while the more serious troubles with having the disorder – such as the executive dysfunction, which makes it incredibly difficult to get started doing certain things even if you want to do them (or to stop, sometimes), or the sensory processing issues (auditory being most common, I think), or the social ramifications, or the hits to one’s self-image that living with ADHD can bring, or the predisposition to depression and anxiety – are glossed over.
In short, we’re treated more like Greg than like Kid Win. Seeing Kid Win actually talk about dealing with some of these issues meant a lot to me, and my outburst when Kid expressed his concerns about not actually having the disorder was motivated by a short-lived fear that Wildbow was about to take that away.
In retrospect, it was probably more intended as a commentary both on the fact that yes, there is a case to be made for ADHD being overdiagnosed (in boys, primarily; girls tend to be underdiagnosed, if I’m not mistaken) in some countries, and on that yes, a lot of ADHDers probably do worry about their diagnosis being a mistake – or hope so.
Overall, I am very pleased with the handling of Kid’s (clearly legitimate) diagnosis, and I’m glad Wildbow decided to include us.
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