Historical Info

Attention Deficit is not a new thing. It is recently identified, and I believe, may be more of a problem in our society than in others. We have more technological influences that aggravate the condition, less parental attention, less educational flexibility, a lesser work ethic, and a society which is less punishing of failure than previous eras. In previous centuries, if you did not find a way to cope, you starved. This provided immense motivation to overcome limitations! And the failures never made it into the history books - they died.

It is reasonable to assume that many of our prominent historical figures had ADD or ADHD. This assumption is based on the following personality criteria:

• A wide variety of interests, all of which were developed to a great degree of proficiency.
  
• The ability to concentrate on a gift to the exclusion of all else. Forgetting to eat, or sleep when absorbed in an idea.
  
• A high degree of creativity, which seems to fully develop an idea in the mind long before it is translated into a useable form (see Mozart).
  
• Poor educational performance, in spite of better than average intelligence, in combination with other criteria.
  
• A figure which is described as always busy doing something, or who is involved in many simultaneous projects (see Eleanor Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill).

A few characteristic symptoms are noticeably missing from these people. They do not seem to lose interest in ideas, but this is because they have disciplined themselves to finish tasks, or they have, in most instances, gone on to another interest. Often, they perform what we consider their most important work in the foreground, while dabbling in idea after idea in the background. In some cases, they actually only finished a few things from the thousands they started, but the ones they finished were so phenomenal that the ones they did not finish were unimportant. Distractibility is evident in many biographies, but it is inferred, not stated directly, as in poor school achievements, and a poor record in subjects they disliked.

It is my opinion that many of our greatest historical minds used a condition we now term as a disability to their advantage and became uncommonly great because of it. I also feel that many children with the condition today have the same potential, if we just stop trying to make them "normal", and stop trying to make them learn like everybody else, and teach them to cope with the difficulties and to make the most of the gifts of ADD. At the very least, they can be taught to compensate in such a way that they can function in society as productive members.

The following can be categorized as probably having one of the conditions with a fair degree of certainty. This is not meant to state that they did, only that it is reasonable to conclude that they might have, and that a child with this condition is capable of similar greatness. They can be a great example to a struggling child, as we explain to them that this great person learned to accomplish the unpleasant tasks in a minimum of time, so he could then spend the rest of the time on what he wanted to do (Albert Einstein), or that this one learned to finish what he started without getting mired in unimportant details, or that another had other people to carry out his plans after he had originated the ideas (Jefferson, Edison).

Winston Churchill - Described as one of the busiest people known by his acquaintances. He developed skills in government, military, painting, bricklaying, writing, aviation, and polo playing. He did very poorly at school, and found study to be extremely difficult, though he later did well at a Military Academy. Wrote articles when employed in other fields, often busy on multiple jobs, or hobbies.

Thomas Jefferson - We all know he was an original thinker in the political arena, though most of us don't know the many different things he engineered in our government. A large portion of those qualities which set our government apart as the first of it's kind were ideas born in the mind of Jefferson. He also was an inventor of a wide variety of useful gadgets which were unheard of in his day, an architect, a scientific farmer, writer and musician.

Eleanor Roosevelt - Described as "The lady who never stopped". She moved faster than most people, and was always involved in a project, often a new one. She had a reputation for accomplishing more in a day than most people did in three, and her daily schedule of accomplishments is awe-inspiring.

Mozart - Composed and remembered entire pieces of music in his head. Lost himself in composing, many times finished pieces only minutes before they were played. This was not because he composed them late, he had the music in his head, but writing it out was tedious and he procrastinated on it. Neglected routine personal maintenance tasks when busy.

Einstein - Poor scholar (described as a "misfit"), prolific producer of original ideas, and a gifted musician. He had a low paying government job, and used to complete his work there in only a few hours, then use the balance of the time to work on his theories. Later, when employed as a physicist, had great powers of concentration which he used to doggedly solve complex problems.

Albert Schweitzer - Four careers in philosophy, medicine, theology, and music. An expert in the following areas: organ architecture, esthetics, agriculture, tropical zoology, anthropology, carpentry, masonry, veterinary medicine, boatbuilding, dentistry, drafting, mechanics, pharmacology, and gardening. Was a poor student in school.

Benjamin Franklin - Printer, author, philosopher, statesman, scientist, inventor. He knew 5 languages and was self-taught, and impulsive. He was a perfectionist and described as very busy. Kept up writing when involved in diplomatic work.

Michelangelo - Totally absorbed in his work, began as a sculptor, branched out in other areas later, developing superior expertise in each area. Assigned to paint the Sistine Chapel, tried to refuse because he claimed he was not a painter. Tried it, became absorbed and excited about it, so much so that the more he painted the more detail he wanted to put in. Forgot to eat and sleep when working. Finally was ordered to stop when Julius II declared it to be finished. Later explored other artistic areas and drew designs for inventions far ahead of his time, pioneered a new school of architecture.

Thomas Edison - A very busy man, impulsive, creative, and possessed of widely varied interests. Invented phonograph, microphone, mimeograph, flouroscope, batteries, and moving pictures, plus hundreds of other inventions, good and bad (his list of failed inventions was many times the size of his good ones). Improved inventions of other people to make them practical. Learned to delegate quite well. Failed in school (partly because of near total deafness). Educated by his mother, and the public Library.

Many others, these are just some of whom I had the biographical sketches on hand for. This year for history we are studying one person each day, sometimes with follow up research, sometimes not (depending on prominence and impact), and when we come to someone who may have had ADD, we talk about how they learned to cope if there is any outstanding feature that shows evidence of it.