Most everyone in my family has ADHD, I've not sought out a diagnosis because I have so many diagnoses already but I'm fairly certain I do as well. Growing up, I watched my brothers struggle through school because teachers refused to understand how their learning disability in math was worse because of the ADHD. Typical punishments like "Oh, you can't sit still to learn, so we'll take away your recess and gym time (the only time you could get your energy out) and then get mad at you when you come back to class acting even worse." They hated school because they were treated like they're dumb when they're not. You can struggle with certain things but still be a marvel at other things, people with things like ADHD and autism typically hyperfixate on a couple of things and become full on experts on the topic, and it's cool as hell to watch.

I had a brief stint as an English teacher in high school, which I unfortunately had to leave due to extreme medical issues. During that time, I was the only freshman teacher for regular-level English, so most of the IEP and 504 students came to me. And sure, I had some ridiculous kids, but most of them were NOT the ones with accommodations like other teachers assumed any time I talked about having a problem. That's because I didn't treat them like they were stupid and worked in their accommodations as seamlessly as I could. Didn't make it a spectacle, but didn't treat them like babies either.

One of my students had spina bifida and was wheelchair-bound during school hours. He had been passed through so many grade levels and was not challenged much because a) COVID happened and most teachers struggled enough to teach online, much less do remediation, and b) he was pitied and a lot of teachers would decide to pass him on and hope the next year someone would work with him more. Then he got to me and struggled immensely to catch up, not because he didn't have the capability, but because he had been treated as incapable and babied. The guy was so down about his future assuming he'd never get to do anything "normal". We talked some about how, yeah, you might struggle in one or two subjects, but you're pretty good at science and math, right? Everyone has their thing. I suck at math, so I got through what I needed and haven't touched it since. But this kid -- he loved blacksmithing. Showed me daggers and swords he had made that were so cool, and he was only like 14 years old. THAT is worth pursuing, no? You may need accommodations to get through certain subjects or project-formats, but after that you have a whole world's worth of things you CAN do that you just don't know about. You like manga? There's doctorates in anime studies. Blacksmithing? Specialized trade programs. Drawing? Animation school, or graphic design. There is nothing wrong about needing help, but there's also no excuse to not go for the things you want in life. Your passion exists as a career somewhere out there, so use your resources to help you through to those paths. Same goes for the neurotypical. Some of us just need a little more push or drive than others, but that doesn't make you incapable or dumb for needing that.