Newly diagnosed- is this normal?

First time posting…
My response (I wonder if anybody else is the same…)
(Diagnosed at age 35.)

Reaction:

Relief - - diagnosis of ADD explains it all (once I read up on it.)

Anger - - Why did I have to suffer so long? Why didn’t they catch this back when I was a kid and was constantly tormented and being punished for my messes and under achievement. (I know the answer… they didn’t know then.)

If you don’t mind sharing, I would be interested in how you’re learning disability affects your life. What are the challenges you face?

You might be interested in reading the following book:
Embracing the Monster: Overcoming the Challenges of Hidden Disabilities by Veronica Crawford (Author), Larry B. Silver (Author). You can get the book at Amazon.com.

I know personally as an adult it is always difficult getting other people to understand my learning disability, since learning disabilities is a hidden disability. As a disability LD is not visible like blindness or deafness. I always have some friends that understand. This is a great deal of help.

Jim — Michigan

My sister was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult.

Sorry, I missed one of the questions. I was diagnosed as LD in the 9th grade (they should have diagnosed me earlier, but never mind… I am twice exceptional so there was some amount of masking). Anyhow, when they finally officially diagnosed me, my feeling was “I am not stupid.” I was feeling stupid, but I was not, I am LD. That helped me personally. Then I just had to learn how to compensate for it.

Hi Anna.

I had a very similar experience (although I was tested more than once as a kid (i’m 29 now, and they always said, there’s nothing wrong, she’s energetic, she’s very bright, her i.q. is in the low to mid 140s. Everything should be smooth sailing, right? i thought i was totally crazy and lazy(for a really long time). certain things just don’t compute. I can’t follow instructions. i was great in algebra and biology, but and i was a disaster in physics, and calculus. I can’t use a map to save my life, seriously. I can stare at it and stare at it, and it just doesn’t make sense. in the past i have gotten so lost, i’ve driven around lost for hours! These sorts of things are easy for most people. not for me. it wasn’t until this year that i finally got some results that make sense. I had the same scores with verbal comprehension, but i am an average to below average when it comes to spatial reasoning (sequential processing)

it’s tough, but i’m working on it. oh when they told me, that’s what you asked (right, i also have ADHD:)) anyway, I lost it, started crying, no bawling is more like it.) right there in the office. My husband, therapist and the psychologist had no idea what to do. but I was trying to get a hold of myself, make a joke, say anything to adjust, but i just couldn’t. When we finally got out of there, i vegged out, hungout with my dogs, my husband and i rented movies, and when i got up i decided that i needed to pick myself up and figure out what to do with this information. (I’m in school to be a librarian, which i think fits my LD, because it gives me the tools to find information i need better than i ever could before. I’ve been reading a lot about LD and cognitive diversity. I listen to podcasts. I started a blog. Anyway, i am still pissed i never understood this before, but i am also relieved.

good luck, it’s tough but there’s no time like the present. One book that has been an absolute epiphany for me is Learning Outside the Lines by Jonathan Mooney and David Cole.

I feel you catelibrarianwithLD.. I was diagonosed a couple years ago at the age of 22. I was diagnosed at my Junior College. I’ve been in Junior College since right out of High School in 2001 and was embarrassed and decided one day that I wanted to be tested because this frustration of not remembering anything and people telling me I’m too young to have CRS.. LOL “Can’t Remember S@#%”.. So I did I went to disablity services and said I want to be tested, never been tested in my life and it’s time.. I was right I had a LD my auditory processing was kaput..When I was young-er my dad and step - mother verbally would tell me to do 5 things at once and i would keep saying it out loud and then get distracted and only remembered two and then would go off playing thinking I was done.. I would get in so much trouble because they thought I was a lier. I still think to this day that after my diagnoses that it’s still baloney. Owell… anyways.. sorry off the subject.. Some days I still cry about it, it’s hard knowing you can never be like everyone else.. have their “normal” brain.. But then I think the world would be perfect and that will never happen and everyone is made to be different. It’s hard sometimes to tell employers to write it down for me and let me write it down..hold on.. They look at me weird.. but who cares! I am just glad for this site. It helps me deal with a lot. So whoever is in charge of making this site happen. THANK YOU VERY MUCH, YOU HAVE SAVED MY SANITY SO TO SPEAK! =0)