The Many Faces of ADHD: Betty, a Grandmother

Hi,

She told me she was diagnosed around 10 years ago. Guess I should have made that more clear in the article! 

Hey Terry,

Got it. Age 85, diagnosed at 75.

Interesting. It sounds like the diagnosis alone met her needs. To finally know and understand "why" after all these years. What a gift that must have been for her.

That's what I miss the most about facilitating adult ADD groups, the normalizing experience of being with "my" people. I so hope she has at least one friend with whom she can totally be her self. Of my friends, I particularly treasure those friends. I can see how the dance world would have sustained her, particularly if many of her peers were kinesthetic.

Grandma Lise

Grandma Lise

Hi,

I'm not sure if she's told anyone in her group of friends. I don't think so. Maybe it's part of her generation to keep such things private; I don't know.

Have you ever gone to my online support group for adults? I haven't had time to facilitate it, but I do believe they're still meeting. The info is at http://www.addconsults.com/Resources/chat.html

And did you say you've been to an ADDA conference? Those change my life- being in a hotel full of adults with ADD! WOW! There's one coming up this summer: www.add.org

HIGHLY recommended.

T.

Hey Terry,

I'll check that link out. Thank you. I previously mentioned that I had attended four ADDA confernces. What I should have stated is that I attended four national adult ADD conferences, the first four. The earliest ones were not ADDA conferences.

One of my favorite memories is of riding the elevators with the other attendees. We were all bubbliing with energy, and often would get off on the wrong floor, so we quickly learned to pull our fellow attendees back into the elevator when we knew they were getting off on the wrong floor. It was a lot of fun, lots of giggles and laughter. We supported one another and looked after one another. 

I loved being there, seeing all my friends once a year, it's just that I already spend so much money on christmas ornaments, papercrafts, and, you guessed it, books.

This year, I'm slowing down on purchasing papercraft related products, and am hoping to bring to an end to my christmas ornament collecting though I now decorate a tree for our local cancer center too. This could become a problem. Perhaps, in a few years, attending a conference will be a possibility again. 

Grandma Lise 

:: slapping my head ::

Yes, you did say you'd been to the conferences. Which non-ADDA ones did you go to? I wonder if we ever met at ADDA. Funny and fun times, eh?

Save your money for the next time!

T.

Hey Terry,

Okay, I dug through my records. Here's the history of the first conferences.

The first national adult ADD conference was organized by the Adult Attention Deficit Foundation at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1993.

In 1994, a second one, again in Ann Arbor, was organized by the ADDult Information Exchange Network and Mary Jane Johnson's organization, ADDult Support Network. I believe Daniel Amen, M.D. presented his work with SPECT brain studies that year.

In 1995, ADDA hosted it's first national ADD conference in Merrillville, Indiana. Then in 1996, ADDA hosted it's second conference in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Sadly, that was my last conference.

I can't remember Terry if you told me which ADDA conference was your first. Did we cross paths or just miss each other?

Grandma Lise

Well, I know that I've been to every ADDA conference beginning in Merriville up till last year when they started the regionals. So even if we did meet way back then, I'll bet we'd both forget what we each looked like!

Terry

Hey Terry,

I would have remembered you. I met and talked with most if not all of the support group leaders at each conference. ADDA had more than one conference in Merrillville. I'm willing to bet you attended one of the later ones, but maybe not. Were you an adult ADD support group leader in 1994? 

The 3rd conference was held in St. Louis Missouri. The "ADDA Support Group Training Materials" book included my booklet, "Coaching Partners: An Alternative to Professional Coaching", a program I developed for my local support group, and my publication "Adult Groups '97", the national listing of adult ADD support groups that I maintained for many years after its original publication in the appendix of Driven to Distraction.

Those were wild years. Mary Jane Johnson played a very important role in bringing stability and consistancy to the conferences. Sometimes I wonder if people understand how important and valuable her contributions have been since the late 80's. She didn't just ride the wave, she contributed greatly to forming the wave of adult ADD support that we all rode in the early 90's. By the time I had been diagnosed in 1990, she had already been publishing one of the first two national newsletters for ADD adults!

I went onto the ADDA website. I kind of knew already Mary Jane was still there. I wasn't surprised. We all owe her so much. 

Grandma Lise