Dragon, if you want to share this exchange we're having with your parents you're more than welcome to do so. What you're experiencing isn't going to go away. Instead of blowing it off your parents need to love and support you. You're reaching out for help and getting rebuffed (and frankly, it pisses me off).

When I told my mom about Mac and me getting diagnosed, she was skeptical at first. She's a retired school employee and has seen her share of children with all sorts of learning disabilities. She doesn't want Mac to be "labeled" with ADD. We had a long heart-to-heart via long distance (she's in CA, I'm in VA) and she's coming around. In reading some posts here (Ally Kamikaze, where'd you go?) Mom said one example sounded like HER father!

Here's another point to ponder...according to Hallowell and Ratey (I mentioned their books upthread) and other sources, ADD is inheritable. That's not to say your children 20 years from now have a 110% guarantee of being ADD. But I'm willing to bet either your mother or father are ADD and don't want to admit they have a "problem" or "disability."

The misperception that ADDers are troublemakers, can't be productive members of society, is a bunch of BS. We don't have a disability. We aren't intentional troublemakers. We tend to suffer from "foot-in-mouth" disease, where we blurt out our thoughts without thinking first. It's like our internal emergency brake is faulty. We can be humorous, witty, fun-loving, and childlike. When given the right tools and opportunities we florish. But when we're misunderstood or brushed aside, we're getting the short end of the stick.

Let me scarf down some lunch and let you have a chance to ponder the latest. This is fascinating for me because I'm learning how to deal with my son as he gets older.