ADHD is seen as a detriment mostly because it doesn’t easily jive with our capitalist society. More modern understandings of it paint it as a deviation from a norm that loses more and more if its definition as time passes.

Sickness implies that it can be cured; disease implies (through connotation, even if not the denotation) that it’s contagious. In both cases, it’s not that it’s negative that it bothers me - ADHD is negative, on the whole. It’s just the inaccuracy.

Like my depression is not my superpower, neither is my ADHD. It’s just something I have to live with.

More accurate than calling it a superpower. I hate that crap.

It’s a disorder, something that makes daily life more difficult. Yes it can be treated, but never cured (thus far).

Parkinson’s is a disease of the mind, and it often garners pity and sympathy. ADHD is treated as an “excuse” for bad behavior, since it’s invisible (save for behavior that is undesirable).

More than anything, how ADHD is seen by the ignorant majority is why it has any stigma at all.

I don’t really mind it? Disorder/disease: I kinda feel like that’s splitting hairs.

ADHD is treatable, and I’m glad it is (otherwise I’d not be functional at all), and there are plenty of diseases you can only treat (versus cure).

I dunno, that’s just not a distinction that’s ever bothered me.

Honestly, it’s better than when people say I need to “just concentrate more”.

It would definitely strike me as odd, but I don’t think I’d be too bothered by it. Sometime people talk a bit faster than they think. Is it a disease or a mental illness or a learning disability? To some people the vocabulary can be a bit muddy and I understand that.

If they treat me like I’m sick or disabled over an extended period of time, that would offend me. I never met someone who did that, but I’m not afraid of confrontation. I’d just call them out. That usually weeds out the people willing to change from those unwilling.

Like many others, honestly, I’m more frustrated with conversations that downplay the impact of ADHD on my life. It has upsides, and in a different world it may not be a deficit, but in this world, it adds barriers and difficulties. It sets me on the back foot compared to my peers. As long as the language were using if lets me talk about the struggles and downsides, without forcing me to pretend that it’s a net neutral or net positive in my life, I’m ok with it.

ADHD is a disease. You have to go to a doctor to get diagnosed with it. You have to take medicine to be treated for it. It’s studied by medical schools and described in the DSM. It’s genetic and terminal, so the medicine never heals you, unfortunately. It sucks, I know, but it is definitely a disease. No, you can’t “catch” it, but you can’t “catch” Type 1 diabetes either. That is also genetic and terminal.

I don’t really care that much. If they are doing it to be insulting that’s just the type of person they are. If they do it because they are uninformed I can forgive and happily educate them on the fact that brains just work differently on a person to person basis.

In that situation specifically, seeing as your friend meant no harm, id probably just tell them “hey man, that’s not cool just so you know for future reference.” And just because feelings are hurt doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing. It just means that a line was unintentionally crossed because they didn’t know the line was there. Everyone has these lines and half of life is just figuring out where your lines are and where the lines of the people you care about are. If your friend had no bad intentions I’d say don’t take it personally. I know it can be hard sometimes, but just remember that they are your friend.