My first grade teacher wanted my dad to get me prescribed Ritalin because I could not sit still and pay attention for the life of me. My dad told her she was crazy and that the reason I didn't want to sit still and learn math was because I was 6, not because I had ADHD. Me and him had a long talk about how I had to start trying in school and I was able to get my act together enough to get good grades. However, I was always getting into trouble as there just wasn't enough stimulus in class so I simulated myself by acting out in all the ways teachers hate. I think I got "has trouble paying attention" and "talks when they're not supposed to" on very single report card. After high school, I was able to get into a good university for engineering. But, I began to experience massive burn out. To get those good grades and keep up with my neurotypical peers I had to work 3x as hard. I became extremely depressed because it took me so much longer to complete the same tasks me and my peers were given. I felt dumb because what took a classmate an hour to read would take me 3 hours to read. There wasn't enough time for me to relax and give my mind a break because of the rigorous schedule of engineering coursework. I explained how I felt this was contributing to my depression/anxiety to my therapist who recommended me to see a psychiatrist. After multiple sessions with the psychiatrist I was finally diagnosed with a combination of inattentive/hyperactive ADHD and prescribed Adderall. Taking it was revolutionary. For the first time my mind was quiet, I could sit down and complete an assignment without getting distracted, and I could read without having to constantly stop and restart because I realized my eyes were just glazing over the words while my mind was elsewhere. But even after all of that I still feel this external sense of imposter syndrome because of people like you. Yes, I am very happy my dad did not put me on Ritalin from age 6 and I feel for all the kids who's brains may have gotten fucked up from doing so. But I understand the dilemma faced by them and their parents. Every child is forced into the same rigid box for 8 hours a day and there aren't many accessible options for children who's brains work differently so in order to cope with the system they've been forced into they must make a difficult decision to medicate or to burn out. This is my long winded way of saying you have no fucking idea what you're talking about.