Growing Up With ADD

Growing up with Attention Deficit Disorder can be extremely frustrating. Your peers tend to think you're stupid, even though you're probably smarter than any of them. All of the other children in your classes seem to have been born with knowledge of how to carry out mathematical functions, because you don't remember the teacher ever having mentioned how to do these things. Your teachers might see you squinting at the blackboard and ask if you would like to move closer so you can see it more clearly, when the problem is not how you are seeing the information, but rather how you are processing it. Maybe the teachers noticed that you were quiet, and kept to yourself. Preoccupied, distracted, unresponsive to many teaching methods.
Yes, this is how Attention Deficit Disorder can go undiagnosed for years. A lot of times, teachers will associate ADD with hyperactivity, completely unaware that ADHD is a totally different disorder altogether. "This child doesn't run up and down the walls, so it can't be ADD." Others refuse to believe that it exists. "This is just another excuse parents and teachers use for the inadequacies of their children, and another reason doctors will find to shove pills down our throats!"
My parents always knew I had ADD, but it went without an official diagnosis for 17 years. My teachers believed it was everything BUT. At one point, I wore glasses because of my tendancy to squint at the blackboard, trying to make sense of what was on it. Years later, I went to a pediatrician to try and get diagnosed with the disorder so I could get on medication. She gave me an enormous packet with at least 500 questions on it (clearly not designed specifically for the Attention Deficit). The pediatrician insisted it was depression. She gave me a script for Prozac and referred me to a therapist. The Prozac did horrible things to my mind. I felt like a zombie on those pills. Like a slave to society, so I stopped taking them. I then brought up the subject of ADD to my therapist, and she agreed to administer the SNAP IV test. I filled out a quick questionnaire, and was diagnosed with morbid ADD.
This world is so afraid of ADD. It seems to be more feared than cancer. ANYTHING but ADD. It CAN'T be ADD. Part of the problem is that the medications used to treat the disorder are very highly controlled. They're the most controlled a medication can be without it being completely illegal. That, and they're risky. My brother (it runs in the family) takes ADD medication, and was hospitalized about a month ago because he drank a caffeinated beverage in conjunction with the medication.
I still suffer the effects of a childhood with ADD. To this day, I don't know how to multiply multi-digit numbers without using the Lattice Method. In high school, I had completely given up on homework, because every time I sat down to do it, I would trance out for 15 minutes at a time just watching the second hand of the clock go around. I ended up flunking out.
For god's sake, if you're a parent/teacher and you notice a child/student of yours exhibiting these symptoms, do something about it! Get the child to a psychiatrist (physicians are useless when it comes to mental health) and get them the help they need to succeed.