“Rabbi Rubashkin has a way of piercing through every Jewish heart and arousing the neshamah”
I second the sentiment expressed by last week’s letter writer about Rabbi Eli Scheller’s mini-serial. It was beautiful to read about his growth and the challenges he overcame, and our family enjoys his material as well.
However, I too took issue with the statement that he’s happy he wasn’t diagnosed with ADHD because it’s “not helpful to slap on a label” (I’m paraphrasing here).
ADHD is not a label, it’s not a “this generation” thing, it’s not an intolerance for the kids who need a different approach. It is its own diagnosis, and it is real. And being able to face and name what your child has (or what you have) is a necessary part of the work. Moreover, if you are able to get by and succeed without naming and treating the diagnosis, I would venture to say maybe you don’t really have it.
Knowing what it is, knowing that you have it and you are still a valuable person whom Hashem made, taking medication if you need it, and getting whatever help the diagnosis entails, are all real-life things one has to do with ADHD. That is the challenge you’ve been given; take it and run with it. “Avoiding a label” is an outdated way of thinking or speaking about ADHD and is an unfair characterization to those of us who have it in our lives.
Create a free account to keep reading.
