Lesson Tutor: 26 Positive Things about ADD and 46 Famous People With ADD

26 Positive Things about ADD and
46 Famous People With ADD
by Katherine West

Since we normally only hear the negative aspects of ADD-ADHD, I decided to list the positive qualities that most ADD-ADHD people possess. Although some of these qualities may lean toward ADD or ADHD separately, overall most people with this disorder fit very closely with almost all of these personality types. As I promised in an earlier column, here is the list of positive attributes that people with this disorder possess.

Extremely intelligent
Adaptable to change (they try
new things)
Energetic
Visionaries or dreamers
Humble
Resilient
Hardworking
Athletic
Imaginative
Creative
Fun-loving
Very optimistic
Humorous
Determined
Insightful
Very visual
Trusting
Open-minded
Deeply compassionate
Artistic
Passionate
Sensitive
Verbally advanced
Mechanically inclined or very
kinesthetic
Charismatic
Enthusiastic

There are many celebrities, scholars, artists, poets, actors, comedians, scientists, musicians, writers, athletes, generals in the military, presidents, world leaders, and  even royalty who are now thought to have been ADD-ADHD or are currently ADD and/or ADHD. Many doctors and lawyers are also ADD or ADHD. The following is a list of just a few of these very famous people who used their high energy and creativity to become successful adults. What would our world be like if they had been labeled, ridiculed, and discounted as troublemakers or hyperactive misfits?

Einstein
Leonardo DaVinci
Socrates
Mozart
Beethoven
Thomas Edison
Alexander Graham Bell
Orville and Wilbur Wright
Steven Spielberg
Henry David Thoreau
Woodrow Wilson
Bill Cosby
Edgar Allen Poe
Nolan Ryan
John F. Kennedy
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Whoopi Goldberg
Ernest Hemingway
Dustin Hoffman
Abraham Lincoln
Galileo
William Randolph Hearst
George Bernard Shaw
Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat
Ann Bancroft
Magic Johnson
John Lennon
Nostradamus
John D. Rockafeller
Michael Jordan
Pete Rose
Bruce Jenner
Napoleon
General George Patton
Pablo Picasso
Babe Ruth
Harry Belafonte
George Burns
Andrew Carnegie
Salvador Dali
Dwight D. Eisenhower
William Butler Yeats
Prince Charles
Louis Carroll
Eleanor Roosevelt
Louis Pasteur

The world laughed at many of these people. The Wright Brothers were told by townspeople in the Ohio town that they lived in that they were nuts if they thought they could make their contraption fly. Einstein was told that he was stupid, and he would never learn. What do all of these people have in common? Not only did they have ADD-ADHD, but they also changed the world. Many of the people that I listed are still changing the world with their creativity, spirit, and vision. If you are ADD and/or ADHD or your child is, show them this list. Ask them what would our world be like if we never dared to dream? What would it be like if we never wanted to be different? Embrace your differences and strive to change the world!

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