Key takeaways:
- A late diagnosis is better than never, states counselor specializing in ADHD management.
- Ahmed Hassanin finishes numerous hours at Memorial University’s QEII Library.
- Learning is a job that individuals with ADHD can find challenging but not impossible.
In the eerie quiet of the Queen Elizabeth II Library in St. John’s, a young man sits isolated next to an essential factual pillar in the vast reading space, staring into his laptop screen and struggling to stay on task.
Ahmed Hassanin, 25, is a graduate student at Memorial University, efforting toward a master’s degree in computer engineering.
Though he has worked to grow so far within a problematic discipline, Hassanin is burdened by something outside his control: a neurodevelopmental condition that, till fairly recently, he did not know he had.
Like around three to five percent of Canadians, he lives with awareness deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD.
“It’s not something you can simply power through,” he stated.
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Hassanin tells some days as better than others, and the worst ones he names bad ADHD days. His obsession becomes like a loose cannon that he cannot handle on a bad day. He says no part of mental effort is sufficient these days.
The state makes low-stimulation tasks like reading entirely demanding for Hassanin. As a grad student, that can be an issue.
“I keep losing priority every few words,” he stated. “I end up losing track of what I was reading.”
Instead, he likes to work on the more practical aspects of his studies, where attention isn’t entirely as much of a problem as reading. Domestic tasks like cleaning the floor or doing the dishes can also become too harsh for Hassanin to complete at home.
“All the little tasks you can’t do keep stacking up,” he said. “You can’t work when you can’t take care of all those little jobs.”
Source – cbc.ca
