Form Follows Functions - Research
Research Images
ADHD (2019)
Collage by Mitchell Bauer
Photographed by Turner Carrol Gallery
Essay
My ADHD Struggle - Benjamin (Last name not given)- 2008
This essay is a child talking about his struggle with ADHD throughout school. There was a lack of awareness towards ADHD which caused him to struggle in school. He talks about his struggle with ADHD and more importantly his motivations to push through and succeed.
"Everyday of my life, I feel that I experience life differently than most. I find myself drifting in and out of conversations and not being able to concentrate. While some of my classmates absorb information with ease, I sit there, lost and confused. I’ve had ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) as far as I can remember and it’s been a burden to my life. I usually take medication daily to increase my concentration, which helps me during school. Even though having ADHD makes it a struggle to learn, it drives me to succeed every day.
On a daily basis, learning is always difficult for me. To sit still in class and completely focus seems merely impossible in most cases. During my time in middle school I started seeing a doctor and he prescribed a medication to help me concentrate. Even when I’m on my medication I’ll constantly drift off in class and lose focus of everything going on around me. I usually ask for help after school or reread my material in my spare time. Some of the only times I have full concentration is when I’m learning about something that highly interests me. Even when I’m driving I occasionally drift off for brief moments. My problem seems to never escape me.
Ironically, my learning struggle always motivates me to succeed. Through the last two years I have learned about the significance of learning and how important it is for my future. I know that I have to continue to push myself and to make it through school and not fall behind. I’ve learned that the economy is going through a recession and I can’t hope to get lucky and easily succeed in the real world. That reality makes me want to do all that I can to make a future for myself. I know that I’m capable of being successful and this sole fact helps to push me forward.
Ever since my middle school days, I’ve always tried to get the same or better grades than my classmates. I always noticed that some people learn easily and have no struggle. Some students did so well, that at times I lost hope and I thought that I could never exceed as much as they do. As I entered high school I could notice people who would and wouldn’t do something with their life. Ironically, I grew up around people that shared the common fate of doing nothing with their lives. Since then, I knew I wasn’t going to let that be my fate and I definitely didn’t want to disappoint my parents.
My ADHD will always make learning a struggle but I’m driven to succeed. This is just one of many obstacles I have to overcome in my lifetime. I will continue taking medication to help boost my concentration and focus. I feel it’s important to possess a mentality to always want to do more. I believe that being driven is the key to my future and as long as there’s an opposing force, I can always fight to win."
Sketches
I wanted to create a sculpture that includes a comparison of both sides of the brain. With the normal side, I made a normal natural looking brain with an interior view the portals space and clear thoughts. On the ADHD side however I wanted pure chaos for both the interior and exterior to show the mess and distractions a brain with ADHD has everyday.
People with ADHD struggle to do the simplest of tasks everyday. It is something that can be caught at a young age due to the environment of the world around these people as well as their lives with the ones they love. I feel like awareness for ADHD is not at the place where it should be and that people need to start learning about it for their children at a younger age so that it does not create behavioral and academic problems.
Model
