WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

00:00:00.096 --> 00:00:05.096
- I think with ADHD, the
problem is that you sort of...

00:00:05.608 --> 00:00:06.571
- And I try to rephrase this

00:00:06.571 --> 00:00:08.289
'cause I'm sort of going on a tangent.

00:00:08.289 --> 00:00:09.122
- What just happened?

00:00:09.122 --> 00:00:10.313
- What was I saying?

00:00:10.913 --> 00:00:14.863
(bright music)

00:00:28.693 --> 00:00:30.378
I misbehaved a lot as a kid,

00:00:30.378 --> 00:00:31.263
but I didn't mean to.

00:00:31.263 --> 00:00:33.901
- The natural environment of a classroom

00:00:33.901 --> 00:00:38.158
is very non-conducive
to somebody with ADHD.

00:00:38.158 --> 00:00:39.636
You know, just like this quiet room,

00:00:39.636 --> 00:00:41.222
you're sitting at this table,

00:00:41.222 --> 00:00:43.104
a bunch of other kids
are all doing their work.

00:00:43.104 --> 00:00:45.033
It was almost like a sensory overload.

00:00:45.033 --> 00:00:47.276
Like everything is coming
at you all at once.

00:00:47.276 --> 00:00:49.129
- I would be trying to
focus on this teacher

00:00:49.129 --> 00:00:53.213
and then all of a sudden,
I would snap to it again,

00:00:53.213 --> 00:00:56.754
and I had missed half of what
the teacher had talked about.

00:00:56.754 --> 00:00:58.424
It's like you're high or something, like,

00:00:58.424 --> 00:01:01.801
it's like (laughs), it's kind
of similar to being high.

00:01:04.674 --> 00:01:06.022
- One of the side-effects of ADHD

00:01:06.022 --> 00:01:08.774
is a sort of inability,
or at least a tough time

00:01:08.774 --> 00:01:12.497
staying still, concentrating,
focusing on day-to-day tasks.

00:01:12.497 --> 00:01:14.688
- I feel like my thoughts
are sort of on like,

00:01:14.688 --> 00:01:17.970
a carousel in my brain,
and it's going in circles,

00:01:17.970 --> 00:01:19.909
and each thought stops
for like two seconds

00:01:19.909 --> 00:01:21.002
in front of my eyes.

00:01:21.002 --> 00:01:23.009
I can barely grasp it, and then it's gone.

00:01:23.009 --> 00:01:24.479
- The third day I was at Buzzfeed,

00:01:24.479 --> 00:01:27.010
I was taking some like,
safety test with my friend,

00:01:27.010 --> 00:01:28.665
fellow producer here, Caitlin.

00:01:28.665 --> 00:01:31.062
And I'm like already lost on the packet,

00:01:31.062 --> 00:01:32.698
I look over and Caitlin's answered

00:01:32.698 --> 00:01:34.579
the first 10 questions already.

00:01:34.579 --> 00:01:37.016
And it's just that that's
like the story of my life,

00:01:37.016 --> 00:01:38.985
is like, looking over to
my friend, and being like,

00:01:38.985 --> 00:01:41.075
"How the hell did you just do that?"

00:01:45.256 --> 00:01:47.954
- I have been on some form of medication

00:01:47.954 --> 00:01:49.239
ever since I was 13.

00:01:49.239 --> 00:01:52.105
- I stopped taking medication.

00:01:52.105 --> 00:01:54.581
For me, because I just didn't
like the way it made me feel.

00:01:54.581 --> 00:01:57.846
They curb my appetite,
I was losing weight.

00:01:57.846 --> 00:02:00.683
- But the medication
provides me with clarity.

00:02:00.683 --> 00:02:02.105
- When I'm not on my medicine,

00:02:02.105 --> 00:02:05.279
it feels like the smallest
tasks are really overwhelming

00:02:05.279 --> 00:02:07.336
because I can't visualize and focus

00:02:07.336 --> 00:02:09.220
on the simple process.

00:02:09.220 --> 00:02:10.278
- I have to plan things out,

00:02:10.278 --> 00:02:13.065
I have to write everything
down or else I forget.

00:02:15.735 --> 00:02:18.067
I don't advocate that
everyone go off their meds

00:02:18.067 --> 00:02:20.053
if they don't need to, it's just for me,

00:02:20.053 --> 00:02:22.691
that was something that
I felt I wanted to do.

00:02:22.691 --> 00:02:24.136
- It looks different in everybody.

00:02:24.136 --> 00:02:26.484
I would just wish people
were a little more sensitive

00:02:26.484 --> 00:02:28.909
with the verbal assumptions they make.

00:02:28.909 --> 00:02:30.951
- I just wish people believed it was real.

00:02:30.951 --> 00:02:33.302
My ADHD is like the
realest thing in my life.

00:02:33.302 --> 00:02:35.738
Like I can't reach out and touch it,

00:02:35.738 --> 00:02:37.057
but I can feel it.

00:02:37.604 --> 00:02:41.200
(bright music)