With gratitude for the response and effort and with all due respect, the doctor is incorrect in a few important areas.  A response from an attorney with expertise in disability law and/or elections law would be very much appreciated.  I am not a lawyer and so this is NOT legal advice, but here is some of what I understand already (I was hoping for an answer more sophisticated and detailed than my own understanding):   First, any registered voter may have the assistance of 1 or 2 adults in voting.  You do NOT need to ask special permission for this assistance, and it is illegal for anyone to prevent you from having it.  Second, we have a consitutional right to cast a secret ballot, a right that is critical to the integrity of our democratic system and helps prevent voter intimidation, which is also (very) illegal.  Obviously, a voting system/process that is accessible to a voter with a disability (such as ADHD) only via direct in person assistance from another person precludes the casting of a secret ballot.  Accordingly, laws such as the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) require the development and implementation of voting systems that allow every voter to idenpendently cast a secret ballot.  This is a basic civil right.  See http://ndrn.org/issues/voting/hava/ and links on that site, www.aapd.com and click programs > voting project, and see http://www.eac.gov/vvsg/part1/chapter03.php/?searchterm="disabled%20voters" which is about HAVA accessibility and usability guidelines from the federal goverment's Elections Assistance Commission.  Also check your state's election code, as every state has its own rules (and be sure to make suggestions to your state legislature if they are inadequate in terms of disability access and civil rights).   My question was about what specific methods and such would make the system adequately accessible and allow one to independently cast a secret ballot.  For example, having the ballot contents and instructions available in audio form as well as visual form so a voter, if he or she chooses, can have multiple sensory input and drown out extraneous and distracting noise in the polling place.  But I imagine that there are many other creative things that would improve accessibility of the voting process for people with learning and/or cognitive disabilities, and that the solution I mentioned won't work for everyone in this category.  So, what would make voting easier and more user-friendly for you (aside from different candidates! ;)  )?   As for qualifying as a person with a disability, is it true that only people diagnosed with ADHD/ADD before age 22 would "count" under ADA and such??  And of course an adult would have to have had neuropsych testing in order to be diagnosed with ADHD/ADD.  Don't children also go through age-appropriate neuropsych testing (along with a thorough physical to rule out a gmc causing the symptoms) before clinicians reach an ADHD/ADD diagnosis?   Thanks again for your help!