| Modern
Times
"Paying Attention." Scientific American. "Increased Medication Use in ADD: Regressive or Appropriate?" JAMA "The Ritalin Controversy: What's Made This Drug's Opponents Hyperactive?" JAMA The Leading Edge Research Homepage newsgroup: alt.support.attn-deficit Wired Magazine, "Interrupt Driven" Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid Or Crazy?! Success with Attention Deficit Disorder and Hyperactivity Parents of Children With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder |
CH.A.D.D. Homepage (Dec 1996), http://www.chadd.org/ Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (CH.A.D.D.) is "a nonprofit parent-based organization formed to better the lives of individuals with attention deficit disorders and those who care for them." For someone with access to the World Wide Web on the Internet, finding this homepage is as easy as popping "ADD" into a search engine and seeing what comes up. However, few people have Internet access. This homepage is apparently sponsored by "Attention!" magazine, "CH.A.D.D.'s premiere magazine written for people with ADHD and those who work with them." A quick glance down the page shows that the main actor here is the CH.A.D.D organization. This site is primarily an invitation to join CH.A.D.D. One can find a nearby chapter or join right now via e-mail. The second purpose of this site to provide information and services. There are links to books on ADD, CH.A.D.D. conference audio tapes, and articles about coping with ADD. On the page pointed to by the "ADD in the Media" link, The Merrow Report is mentioned a few places. According to the director of the CH.A.D.D., the Merrow report "promotes the myth that ADD is merely a bad excuse for bad kids and bad parents." The amount of attention CH.A.D.D. gives to this report is not surprising considering that the report challenges the legitimacy of ADD as a psychological disorder rather than a behavioral problem. The CH.A.D.D. homepage promotes itself as a service to those with ADD. Although there are some links to related articles, the thrust of the homepage is to encourage people to join CH.A.D.D. The descriptions of ADD, such as the statistic that half of those with some form of ADD are never diagnosed, serve to increase the number of people who can say they have ADD. The annual membership is $35 for a family or educator, $65 for a health care professional, and $100 for an international member (someone outside of the U.S. and Canada). I would be less cynical about the motives of designers of this webpage if it were presented more as a public service announcement and less like an advertisement for CH.A.D.D. Reviewer: Dan Ryan |
| PREVIOUS | NEXT |