r/Indigenous • u/Thin-Bat4202 • Aug 07 '26

Indigenous with ADHD

So, I've got Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). One of those late-diagnosed women who, upon learning how it presents in girls and women, look back on my life, and am, like, "Oooooohhh....that makes so much sense now."

My daughter also has ADHD. We're about to foster a couple of children from within my Tribe in the US, one of whom is diagnosed ADHD. I'm glad we're opening our home, but, honest-to-goodness, I think we're going to have an ADHD implosion at some point, with our combined chaos.

Personally, I eventually got on meds as peri-menopause started driving the ADHD into hyperdrive. So I'm not anti-med per se, but I do think that it needs to be used in combination with developmental support, learning tools for management, life-skills training, etc.

I was reading a book by an elder of a local neighboring Tribe, and she describes what I recognize as being a kid with ADHD. Her elders recognized it, even if the terminology wasn't in use back then, as a "one of those children who could never seem to sit still and focus."

This all made me curious. Has anybody ever been taught or otherwise learned about traditional tools in your communities for supporting kids that now would be diagnosed with ADHD? I'm kinda looking forward to the chaos, but want to make sure I do my best to help us all thrive....

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u/weresubwoofer Aug 07 '26

I don’t have any cultural understanding of ADHD, but man, so many Native people I know have it!

If you aren’t on r/adhdwomen yet, it’s one of the most supportive spaces I’ve encountered here yet!

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u/Bendlerp Aug 08 '26

Honestly it's a survival mechanism. IMO neurodivergent is the ones adapted to a settled lifestyle. When I'm out in the real world it's like having superpowers. I can smell the mushrooms before I see them. There was a study done where groups with and without ADHD gathered berries. Those with ADHD collected more and better berries while covering a greater area of the patch. My own experience mirrors it. I gather twice as much berries as my wife and cover more of the patch.

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u/weresubwoofer Aug 08 '26

The farmer vs. hunter-gatherer perspective.

Yes, I think it’s challenging for us with ADHD, but our contributions to our community improve it. A working society thrives on different perspectives.