TO THE EDITOR:
As an ADHD student, I was incredibly shocked and offended to read your article, “Alert on Adderall.”
It did nothing more than perpetuate negative stereotypes about people with ADHD, and make us all sound like we pop pills to enhance our academic performance.
To the contrary, people with properly diagnosed ADD/ADHD are taking Adderall and other stimulants to level the playing field. We’re not abusing our medications; we need them to function in daily life. I have to work twice as hard as most students do to just keep up, let alone excel at UNC, even with medication.
The worst offense of this article is that Lacey McClain stated that she doesn’t think anyone needs to take the medicine, that it’s a Band-Aid for larger problems. She’s right — many of us with ADHD also suffer from learning disabilities, anxiety disorders and even depression.
ADHD is not a made-up disease. It is a legitimate, complex mental illness, and the callous disregard for a group of students on campus is unacceptable.
The poor research of the article, which lacked any statistics to cement their claims, is emblematic of the lack of knowledge about ADHD students on campus and the obstacles that we face.
In the future, I urge the DTH to provide a greater factual basis when writing articles about complex medical issues, such as ADHD.
In the meantime, the DTH owes a sincere apology to the students that it marginalizes with this article.
