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Areas › Focus, starting, and ADHD › What ADHD actually is
That number matters in two directions. It means you are not rare, so in a class of thirty or an office of forty there will be others. It also means many people who have it have never been told, since the number who reach a diagnosis is far smaller than the number who fit.
We created you all from a single man and a single woman, and made you into races and tribes so that you should recognize one another (Quran 49:13). Difference spread across people is described there as the ordinary shape of humanity.
الحجرات
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقۡنَٰكُم مِّن ذَكَرࣲ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلۡنَٰكُمۡ شُعُوبࣰ ا وَقَبَآئِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوٓاْۚ إِنَّ أَكۡرَمَكُمۡ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ أَتۡقَىٰكُمۡۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرࣱ
People, We created you all from a single man and a single woman, and made you into races and tribes so that you should recognize one another. In God’s eyes, the most honoured of you are the ones most mindful of Him: God is all knowing, all aware
Qur’an 49:13read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
A systematic review of ADHD in children and young people puts global community prevalence at around 5%, with at least a further 5% having substantial difficulties just below the diagnostic threshold. That second group is the interesting part, since the cut off is a line drawn across a spread rather than a wall. Estimates still shift with how studies are done, so treat 5% as a good working figure and not an exact count.
Sayal K, Prasad V, Daley D, Ford T, Coghill D. (2018). ADHD in children and young people: prevalence, care pathways, and service provision.. The lancet. Psychiatry doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Something that shows up at similar rates in very different societies is describing something in people, not something in one culture's schooling.
Far more people have ADHD than are ever assessed for it. If you have wondered about yourself for years, the odds that an assessment would be worth your time are better than you think.
When you explain ADHD to someone who does not have it, describe the effort rather than the outcome. Not that the form is unfinished, but what twenty minutes of trying to fill it in actually took out of you.
With children, practise the hard social moment rather than explaining it. Act out asking to join a game, or losing one, a few times at home where nothing is at stake.