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Grace Edmonds interviewed Maddie Nitsch to learn about living with neurodivergence and ADHD. Maddie realized she was neurodivergent and had ADHD when she struggled to focus and manage time. She found solutions through her mom, the internet, and educational videos. Maddie believes she can help others with similar problems by recommending they get tested for ADHD. Maddie's personality is talkative and she tries to make people feel comfortable. Her disabilities make her more outgoing and help her make friends easily. Maddie feels welcome and understood in the neurodivergent community. She wouldn't choose to be neurotypical because her disabilities make her a better person. Hi, my name is Grace Edmonds, and for my project, I decided to interview Maddie Nitsch in order to really see what it's like to be both neurodivergent and have ADHD. For my first question, I asked her what made her realize she was neurodivergent and had ADHD. This question helped me to understand what it's like to live with these disabilities, just so I could understand her a little bit more. I couldn't focus on my work, and it was difficult for me to be able to do things in a timely manner and manage my time well. Also, I fidget a lot, more than the average person would. It's not just anxiety, it's more like a constant thing I need to do, or else I'm just going to zone out. Like any person, you don't automatically know what strategies help you overcome challenges. You have to test them all out. However, having ADHD and being neurodivergent, no two people are going to present the same. This led me to my next question, who has helped you find solutions, and what are they? Yeah, I would say my mom, she, and like, the internet, um, there are like people on TikTok and YouTube who make educational videos about ADHD, and it's like, oh, this is how you do this, or like, if you're having trouble managing something, here's something that you can do instead to help you. And like, a lot of them are like, some of them are getting products together and doing something with that. And so, I tell my mom, and she's like, oh, okay, so we'll do this for you. Like, one of the things is, for people, like, neurodivergent people in school, is you should eat snacks to, like, help you focus, because it keeps your energy up, and it keeps you, like, your, um, dopamine up, so it allows you to have motivation to actually do your schoolwork. So that's why I carry lollipops around in my bag, to, like, give me energy to actually do my schoolwork. Now that Maddie had the knowledge of what she can do to help herself, I wanted to know if she thought she would be able to help other people that have the same problems and be their resource. I would say, because I, I've done a lot of research on, like, um, different disorders entirely, just, like, on different, like, medical websites, on things that they use to teach psychology to, like, college students. I've done stuff like that. Like, read all the, like, pages and notebooks, pages and notebooks about ADHD and stuff, and I feel like I know enough to be able to feel like, oh, you might want to ask your doctor if you can get tested, because you are showing symptoms that are that of ADHD. And so I feel like I can, I'm not qualified, but reasonably versed in the matters. At this point, I wanted to give her a break and ask her a question that didn't involve being neurodivergent and having ADHD. What made Maddie, Maddie? Um, I don't, I'd probably say just, like, my personality. Um, being, being talk, being talkative, um, just making people feel, I try to make people feel, like, more comfortable and wanted. It's, like, especially my friends, so, and I try to be friends with everyone. I give people a lot of, like, second chances and stuff, so I feel like that's what I want people to know me as. So I feel like that'd be a good answer for, like, what makes you, you know, like, my personality being talkative to other people, like, being a good person. Now that I knew what made her Maddie, I wanted to know how her disabilities played into her and how they made her whole. I've noticed that people who have ADHD specifically are more outgoing people just because it's easier to manage dopamine when you have other people to, like, bounce it off of. So me being able to, like, talk and, like, talk really fast around my friends, which makes them be like, oh, this person's really fun and I'm going, I'll be able to, like, I get friends pretty easily, I would say. Um, and it's just, um, it's easy, it's easy for me and I think it's because I have ADHD and, like, my brain goes fast, so. I've been wanting to know how have people that are also neurodivergent and have ADHD made her feel welcome and happy to be a part of that community? There's actually a lot of research and, like, study that goes on with, like, neurodivergent people, um, acting around other neurodivergent people. And what I've noticed is that, especially around my other friends that have ADHD, we tend to, like, be closer together and it's because that people with, um, like either ADHD or autism or, like, some personality disorder, they feel more comfortable around people who are like them and are just, like, they feel safer. So they are, they feel like they can actually express themselves. So when I'm around people that are neurodivergent like me, I'm like, oh, we struggle with the same thing. So we can get each other better than how I would get someone that's, like, neurodifficult. I don't know. And it's easier to, like, understand each other. Yeah. Help each other through different problems. Yeah. Because if you've experienced something and they haven't, then you have, like, that experience to help that person. Yeah. For the last question, which I believe to be one of the most important questions of the whole interview, I asked Maddie if you had the option to be neurotypical, would you choose to be that way or would you rather stay neurodivergent? That's a difficult question. And I feel like a lot of people that have, like, disorders with their brain, it's, like, would you or would you not? Because there's a lot of talk about, like, you should be proud of who you are and who you are is, like, a part of you is this thing with your brain. But then again, it's also a disorder. So, like, would I rather be, like, would I rather not have to take medication to, like, be able to focus and, like, have to do all these extra things so I'm able to do the bare minimum? Or would I rather just be able to cruise? Um, I feel like I would want to keep what I, like, my disorder only because I feel like it just makes me a better person. I don't know. It's weird to explain, but, like, it's, like, you grow so accustomed to it and, like, living without it would be weird. Yeah, it's, like, living, it's, like, it's, like, Freaky Friday, like, living as someone that's not me. Yeah. What I've gathered from my interview is that Maddie has researched her disabilities to better understand herself and to be the resource that other people need. Her ADHD and neurodivergence play a big role in who she is as a person, and even if given the option, she wouldn't change that.
