When Labels Hurt

What does this have to do with ADHD?

Over the years, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) morphed through different classification labels, including "minimal brain damage", "minimal brain dysfunction" and "hyperkinetic reaction of childhood", until Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) was first introduced in the 1980 edition of the DSM-Ill. We now know that people with ADHD are not brain damaged and most would certainly be offended if they were told they were.

In that regard, labels can be hurtful. Imagine the names children were called back in the days when ADHD was known as "minimal brain damage!" Even today, we hear people use the term ADHD in negative ways that do not promote understanding of the condition.

It's our obligation to inform people of how using hurtful labels is damaging to one's self esteem. Just like we have moved away from using the word retarded to instead, people with intellectual or cognitive disabilities, we need to remember to use this same wisdom when describing ADHD.

Thankfully, labels are changing for the better, but we still have a long way to go. If it were up to me, we'd change ADHD to attention inconsistency disorder, or something similar. Because we all know that children and adults with ADHD do not have a deficit in attention; they have a hard time being consistent and having control of it.