Is ADD or ADHD a dissability?

I was just wondering because my husbands father always says my husband has a dissability when relating to his ADD? So my husband has been brought up to believe that he is dissabled. And is it right for his father to push him aside because he believes his son is dissabled because of ADD and treat his other 2 grown up children better and with more respect?

It can be if it is severe enough. A disability is defined as anything that disables you from functioning normally. ADD can certainly stop you from functioning normally, but it is viewed less and less as a disability lately because medication can pretty much control anyone's ADD now.

of course it is a disability

it can if you do nothing about it. today there are institutions or groups that help those with add/adhd

It's not a disability, it's a learning disorder.
It's no big deal, he should be treated like everyone else.
Hope this helps.

Yes ADD is a type of disability, but he shouldn't treat him unfairly. It just means he has a hard time with keeping his attention on what he is suppose to be doing. I hope no one takes this offensively but, I assume his father is a little higher in age and back in the day before there was not a lot of research done on ADD most fathers *may* have felt it was a disability and kinda kept away from the situation. Like, a lot of people who don't understand something they will stay away from it. After all this time there really isn't anything you can do about it, just ignore it and move on with life. Best of luck.

ADD & ADHD are DISORDERS!! Not dissabilities. A person can not claim dissability b/c he/she has been labeled as having either of the two disorders.

Personally, I believe they both are a trap/label created to help adults feel better when they aren't able to keep children engaged. Not to say that the disorder as a whole is not valid, b/c I have seen cases where ADD or ADHD are exact and true. But it is not debilitating, it is not to be "frowned upon" and for a parent to belittle or push a child aside because of such a label is a flaw of the parent, not the child.

In my opinion, 80% of the children who are labeled as having either of the two disorders are not being challenged enough in their task areas (school, extra-curriculars, fitness/sports). Getting them involved and allowing them the opportunity to expel some energy is greatly affective in increasing their focus. The other 20% may be valid cases of ADD or ADHD, but the same fact applies.

It's sad that any parent could do that to their child. Tell your husband he is NOT disable. He has a 100% managable disorder.

My middle daughter has ADHD and leads a normal life. Yes, she is medicated but so are asthmatics etc. There is no reason in this day and age that someone with ADD or ADHD should be on disability unless it is accompanied by other conditions which make daily life difficult.

Yes, it is a disability . It is unkind of your husband's father to treat his other 2 grown up children better than your husband. It is NOT your husband's fault that he has ADD and /or ADHD.
I have a husband and two sons (20 and 17) who (all three) have ADHD. It is difficult to live with them but the boys , (the older has stopped medications because his job is repetitive which suits him perfectly because he has high functional Autism too but he lost Medicaid help when he turned 19 and we could not afford the medications), the younger is taking Adderrall for ADHD. My children have been taking medications since they were around first grade. The older one a little younger than that. My husband functions by making a list of things he needs to pay attention to and work from there but his ADHD causes him to get bored easily and he is a poor listener. Too often I get upset with him because when I tell him something, he would listen to just about half of what I had said and then ask me what I said and I have to repeat everything all over again. He blames it on the ADHD while some people tease me and said it's selective hearing. Which one is it? I don't know for sure. But it is frustrating! It is a disability because if either one of them have to listen to a speech, it is probable that only part of the contents of the speech is noted. My husband had to focus and try to concentrate hard and take notes etc, to do well at classes. My younger son, in spite of medication, still forgets to hand up work, leaves work on the desk at school and suffers a lot of problems in school because of "forgetfulness" which is because of his ADHD. He can only concentrate on "now". Without medication, he would not be able to make it all these yrs and would have driven the teachers and his parents crazy! My second son has it worse than the older and my husband.

Hi,

I have ADHD and i am on meds for this. Yes this is a disabilty, it is a learing disabilty or can also be classed as a mental disablity as the problem is to do with the brain. No it is not right for the father to do this, if this were done in a work place it would be discrimination. If anything your husband need all the support he can get, suffering from ADHD is very difficult for the sufferer and their family. Many people like myself also suffer from other learning disabilities such as dislexia.

A friend in my college has ADHD and dislexia and he in on disability living allowence for this.

I hope you get this sorted and the father learns to understand what is going on and to treat him fairly.

ADD is a chemical disorder in the body. There are differing opinions regarding the cause of ADD or ADHD, but some believe that foods are not digested properly and partly digested food proteins enter the bloodstream, and then the brain chemistry. If you consider the fact that ADHD students in high school and in college can get special accomodations in the classroom for learning, then I suppose you may be able to call it a type of disability or learning "challenge". It does certainly present challenges to the person who suffers from it. But that is not to say the person with ADHD is not intelligent, as many people with ADHD are actually very intelligent. I would believe that it would never be right to push anyone aside, whether they have some sort of learning disabilty, or not. The fact is that many highly creative and successful people have been considered ADHD, including business people. Your husband will have to learn to believe in himself in spite of attitudes that do not display the support he would like to have. It may be difficult, but your husband could end up more successful than his brothers or sisters. He will have to decide that he wants to succeed and he will have to decide what it is that he loves. Then he will need to pursue that. People do not always give us what we want or what we need. Sometimes we have to do that for ourselves. When you husband believes in himself, then perhaps his father's attitude may begin to change. But even if he does not see outward changes in his dad, it is more important what your husband thinks of himself. Overcoming childhood labels may be difficult, but that may be exactly what he needs to do. I think there is a saying, "I believe, therefore I am." Yes, your husband may be ADHD, but that does not mean he cannot succeed in the things he wishes to pursue in life. I wish I could reference the article I read a couple of years ago. It was about a man who started and ran a large and successful company. He also learned to skydive, and other things most people do not do. He did these things after he was severly disabled in a car accident, and was never expected to walk again. He decided he could do these things, and he did. Tell your husband to look online for references to ADHD and food allergies or intolerances. Many people believe that the symptoms can be controlled and relieved by alterations in diet. I found this to be true with my son. Books by Dr. Doris Rapp discuss this in detail. (These books are only available on used booksites). I would think there may also be other books that cover this topic. Tell your husband to believe in himself and not to compare himself to anyone else, and then to look for the things he likes to do and to do them. When he pursues life on his own terms, perhaps he will get the respect he needs, even if it is simply self-respect.