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**SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM TO READ IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER**

Anastopoulos, A. & Shelton, T. (2001).  Assessing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishing Co. Barkley, R. A. (1997)  Defiant Children:  A Clinician’s Manual for Assessment and Parent Training.  New York:  Guilford Press (800-365-7006; info@guilford.com). Barkley, R. A. (2006).  Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A handbook for diagnosis and treatment (3rd edition).  New York: Guilford Press, 72 Spring St., New York, NY 10012 (800-365-7006 or info@guilford.com). Barkley, R. A., & Murphy, K. R. (2006).  Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Clinical Workbook.  New York: Guilford (800-365-7006 or info@guilford.com). Barkley, R. A. (2005).  ADHD and the nature of self-control.  New York:  Guilford. (see above) Barkley, R. A., Edwards, G., & Robin, A. R. (1999).  Defiant Teens: A Clincian’s Manual for Assessment and Family Intervention.  New York: Guilford. (see above) Brown, T. (2000).  Attention deficit disorders and comorbidities in children, adolescents, and adults.  Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press. Buell, J. (2004).  Closing the Book on Homework.  Amazon.com. DuCharme, J., Atkinson, L., & Poulton, L.  (2000).  Success based, noncoercive treatment of oppositional behavior in children from violent homes.  Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 9951004.  Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology, University of Toronto (OISE), 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 1V6. DuPaul, G. J., et al. (1998). The ADHD-IV Rating Scale.  New York: Guilford. DuPaul, G. J., & Stoner, G. (2003).  ADHD in the schools.  New York: Guilford. Gioia, G. A., Isquith, P. K., Guy, St. C., & Kenworthy, L. (2000).  Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF).  Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.  (www.parinc.com; 800-331-8378). Goldstein, S. (1998).  Managing atttention and learning disorders in late adolescence and adulthood.  New York: Wiley. Goldstein, S., & Goldstein, M. (1998).  Managing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children.  New York: Wiley. Goldstein, S. & Teeter Ellison, A. (2002).  Clinician’s Guide to Adult ADHD.  New York: Academic Press. Gordon, M., & McClure, D. (1997).  The down and dirty guide to adult ADHD.  DeWitt, NY:  GSI Publications. Jensen, P. S., & Cooper, J. R. (2003).  Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: State of Science – Best Practices.  Kingston, NJ: Civic Research Institute. Kralovec, E., & Buell, J. (2000).  The End of Homework:How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning.  Amazon.com. Loo, S. & Barkley, R. A. (2005).  Clinical utility of EEG in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Applied Neuropsychology, 12, 64-76. Mash, E. J., & Barkley, R. A. (2003)  Child Psychopathology.  New York: Guilford. Mash, E. J., & Barkley, R. A. (2005).  Treatment of childhood disorders (3rd edition).  New York:  Guilford. Milich R, Ballentine AC, & Lynam D. (2001). ADHD Combined Type and ADHD Predominantly Inattentive Type are distinct and unrelated disorders. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 8, 463-488. Pagani, L., Tremblay, R., Vitaro, F., Boulerice, B., & McDuff, P. (2001).  Effects of grade retention on academic performance and behavioral development.  Development and Psychopathology, 13, 297-315.  L. Pagani, Ph.D., Research Unit on Children’s Psychosocial Maladjustment, University of Montreal, CP 6128, succursale Centre-ville, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3J7; email: paganikl@grip.umontreal.ca. Phelps, L., Brown, R. T., & Power, T. J. (2001).  Pediatric psychopharmacology: Combining medical and psychosocial interventions.  Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. (www.apa.org/books; 800-374-2721) Robin, A. R. (1998).  ADHD in adolescents: Diagnosis and treatment.  New York: Guilford. (info@guilford.com; 800-365-7006) Rojas, N. L., & Chan, E. (2005).  Old and new controversies in alternative treatments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. 

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PROGAMME INFO (7)

The collateral damage of undiagnosed ADHD also bears gender and racial biases. At its conception, many believed that only boys were capable of possessing the disorder, and although perceptions have started to shift - many are unaware that female ADHD presents very differently to male ADHD. Boys tend to exhibit the more disruptive, hyperactive presentation, whilst girls with ADHD present more as inattentive - daydreamers or chatterboxes. As women were excluded from psychiatric trials until 1993, the diagnostic framework of ADHD was overwhelmingly male (and white), leaving many girls and minorites swept under the radar when they were in need of vital support and treatment. Women also tend to mask their symptoms more than boys due to societal expectations of gender, making it more difficult for ADHD to be identified against the more external presenting diagnostic criteria. This has left whole generations of women and minorities growing up without access to support, accommodations and understanding -  rupturing a rift in one’s confidence as symptoms are internalised as personal fault rather than biologically determined. A complex body of feelings and behaviours emerge from a lifetime of guilt and blame, struggling to fit in or meet deadlines, all whilst painfully wondering why you are so different, why you can’t achieve the same as others, regardless of intellect or passion. 

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These deficiencies interact to form a multitude of symptoms associated with ADHD: hyperactivity, restlessness, distractiblity, time-blindness, impulsivity, inattentiveness, recklessness, emotional dysregulation / emotional outbursts, memory problems, poor self control, relationship problems, anxiety and depression (particularly when it’s not sufficiency treated). This is not to say that all people with ADHD suffer all of these symptoms - ADHD is more of a spectrum disorder, so people may exhibit varying numbers and severities of these symptoms. ADHD is an incredibly misconcieved disorder and its detrimental impact is often undermined and overshadowed by the ‘naughty school boy’ trope in ADHD kids. What many cross-cultural studies have discovered however, is that the estimated life expectancy of  neurodiverse people is 13 years shorter than the neurotypical average - they are also significantly more likely to die by suicide, homicide or death via accidents or injury. This harrowing figure is further exacerbated in undiagnosed adults (which disproportionately affects women).Due to the downstream fallout of ADHD symptoms, folks with ADHD tend to experience overexposure to traumatic consequences, which lead them to be much more susceptible to further mental disorders. In fact, around 80% of people with ADHD have a seond mental disorder, and 50% have more than two. The trauma accrued from living in a neurotypical and ableist culture, which brands one’s neurochemical deficiency as personal fault, laziness or inconsistency - is enough on its own to develop intense self esteem issues, anxiety or depression - and 35% of adults with ADHD develop an anxiety disorder. Undiagnosed adults with ADHD end up living their whole lives estraged mental distress and blame - completely anware of how interconnected this disorder is to their behaviour. They are the type of person to start many different projects but struggle to finish when it gets difficult - and this pattern of consistently not meeting your goals can become very demoralising. People with ADHD are also significantly more likely to be fired from their job, or bullied at school, and struggle with managing their money. Ableism is a potent and visceral reality in a world in which your worth is consigned to your capital productivity - but the ways in which ableism surrounding ADHD enters our workplaces and schools is even more insidious - and we just do a better job of understanding ADHD in order to accommodate people better. 

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ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is the name given for a “specific developmental disorder [...] comprised of deficits in behavioural inhibition, sustained attention and resistance to distraction, and the regulation of one’s activity level to the demands of a situation (hyperactivity or restlessness)” (Barkley, 2020). It is a spectrum disorder in which individuals may be a combination of different presenting types, namely: inattentive, impulse and hyperactive. Until the scientific advancement of the 1960’s, the disorder was believed to be caused by brain injury, formally named MBD (minimal brain dysfunction) - which has since been disproved as focus shifted from causation to behaviour. There are many complex and compounding factors of causation which fall under two main domains - genetics or acquisition - with two thirds of ADHD cases being down to genetics. Acquired factors are typically due to frontal lobe damage whilst in the womb, caused by factors such as premature delivery and maternal consumption of alcohol. Exposure to toxins, lead and closed head trauma can also lead to acquisition - although the majority of people with ADHD inherit these genetics which are present in their bloodline regardless of these other factors. No matter what method of causation, all cases of ADHD exhibit biological fault in the areas of the frontal lobe responsible for executive function (the executive system). In neurotypical adults, the executive system becomes fully mature by the age 30, although most of the functions are developed throughout childhood. For those with ADHD, these functions do not develop fully. There are seven major executive functions that give us a capacity to self regulate, which are diminished in ADHD brains by an average of 35%. These functions are as follows: Self restraint (resistance to inhibitions);Self awareness (the ability to monitor your own behaviour);Non-verbal working memory (use of visual imagery, hindsight, foresight and time management);Verbal working memory (your inner voice, the ability to talk to yourself) ;Emotional self regulation (regulation of responses from the amygdala);Self motivation (interlinked with memory);Planning and problem solving (organisational skills);

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#3 - A MOVEMENT IN PARALYSIS - exploring overwhelm, paralysis and intrusionAlthough sensitivity can lead to creativity (as mentioned earlier), it also means the ADHD brain is very susceptible to being overstimulated with sensory information and ideas - which can result in burnt out states of mental paralysis. As many people with ADHD struggle with emotional regulation and sensitivity issues, life can feel very intense, as if everything is flooding into them all at once. This intense overstimulation and its responding thoughts and feelings can reach an unbearable threshold where people with ADHD tend to reach a fight or flight-like response - resulting in an external flood of emotions (like anger or crying) or a complete shutdown of speech or movement (often called ADHD paralysis).9  The likelihood and nature of stimuli which trigger this state of paralysis is bound by many gender, racial, class and societal factors. The increased stress of living in poverty, the emotional burden of unpaid labour for women in the household, or the constant microaggressions experienced by POC may feel incredibly more inescapable and painful in those with ADHD - so it's no surprise that minority and oppressed individuals suffer the worst rates of mental illness and early mortality than other sect of ADHD people.10The final video in this series is an audio-visual representation of what ADHD paralysis feels like. It is a complete assault of flashing imagery and noise that purposely aims to make viewers feel uncomfortable and overwhelmed (so don’t worry if you can’t watch it the whole way through). The sense of paralysis is punctuated by that dental retractor in the mouth - creating a forced stillness, whilst distorting the face and making the individual vulnerable. This is then juxtaposed with the frantic, repetitive and overlapping video oscillating through the trapped face - acting as a visual representation of the subject's ruminative thoughts, worries and fixations. The audio is a mix of more than 10 different Ted talks on ADHD, illustrating that even the routes to increase one's awareness of their disorder can become very easily overwhelming due to the immense body of information, misinformation and debate on the disorder. Not to mention the numerous bureaucratic clinical barriers a person with ADHD may encounter whilst trying to seek diagnosis or drug treatment. When you focus in on the audio, you may notice repetitions of the phrases “pay attention” and “what’s wrong with you?”. These are apparitions of common responses that many people with ADHD have heard from numerous teachers, doctors or loved ones within their lives - ignorant phrases like these often become internalised into one's sense of self and ADHD sufferers grow up to blame the symptoms of their disorder as their own personal fault.

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A NOTE ON PATTERNS 

The use patterns and repetitions throughout this installation is a stylistic imitation of neurodiverse perception and memory (which is explained in the demystifying deficiency section) As opposed to conveying symptoms through narrative, they are incorporated into the stylistic boundaries and behaviour of the piece, enabling the audience to feel the symptoms through the stimuli, instead of an external, more clinical  observation. Not only is this the ethos of dadaist film (which seeks to create its own syntax and feeling through communion of audio and visual elements), but is another recapitulation of the neurodiverse experience imbedded into the ethos of the piece - the placing of feeling over meaning. 

Folks with ADHD are simultaneously very adept at pattern recognition and very inept and maintaining routine and repetitive behaviour in their own lives.5 As their executive faculties in charge of working memory, self restraint, discipline and emotional regulation are all biologically diminished by around 35%, ADHD folks struggle particularly in these areas, with one the biggest symptoms being a difficulty in looking after oneself or in maintaining positive relationships with others. 6

#2 - ALL OR NOTHING - exploring impulsivity, polarity and dysregulation

ADHD is often described as an ‘all or nothing’ disorder in how polarising and frantic its binary symptoms can be. We seem to always be in a state of productivity or a state of paralysis. Excitement or overwhelm. Incredibly hyper focused or infinitely fractured and absent. Talkative or silent. Emotionless or uncontrollably passionate. Confident or insecure. Disciplined or reckless. This all or nothing characteristic of ADHD means that we are significantly more at risk of developing an eating disorder and/or an addiction than our neurotypical counterparts7 - as our ability to execute self restraint, discipline and working memory is biologically diminished, and thus predisposes us to act with more impulsivity and recklessness. What unfolds from this is a lifetime of internalised tug of war - one that is recapitulated into this video.

At first watch, assuming each person represents themselves, this video may communicate a narrative on the unstable power dynamics in our unhealthy yet alluring cultural conception of romantic monogamous love. But if I were to tell you that these two subjects in fact represent one, solid person, how would you view the piece now? Could you relate to this feeling of inner turmoil and battle? The sense of pushing and shoving that occurs when your rational adult self is made to restrain your louder, crying child? Your desire to do something against the knowledge that it is ‘wrong’? Your emotional wounds against the rational practicalities? How many people really get to a place in their lives where this couple inside them is genuinely happy and healthy?

Folks with ADHD especially suffer this inner turmoil due to a biological deficiency in the faculties of the brain responsible for regulating the amygdala, which generates our automatic and more primitive emotional responses. Kids and adults with ADHD are far more likely to experience fall outs with friends or partners as a result of this emotional impulsivity, as this tendency to act impulsive on extreme feelings of emotion without rationale or restraint can often result in explosive and over-the-top behaviour.8 Trouble in relationships is actually considered one of the biggest noticeable symptoms of ADHD, and is by far one of the more physiologically damaging symptoms - leaving its own scars of rejection sensitivity, social anxiety, loneliness and depression. Therefore, both perceptions of the tumultuous couple on screen, as two and as one, are equally real and pertinent to the neurodiverse experience. 

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*a break down of each video*

#1 - THE ETHEREAL NATURE OF NOVELTY / THE ETHEREAL NOVELTY OF NATURE - exploring creativity and discoveryDespite the misleading acronym branding ADHD folks as having an ‘attention deficit’ , people with ADHD do not ‘lack attention’ - we lack the ability to regulate how we filter and allocate our attention to different stimuli.1 The teacher’s voice is just as piercing as the car outside - the lighting, the smell of the air, the feel of our clothes (it’s almost like an internalised mode of epic theatre, where every element of our world is of equal importance). Contrary to this idea of ‘deficit’, we actually exhibit a higher ability to focus than the average neurotypical person2- enabling us to tap into levels of sensory awareness and observation that many others might miss. This is why people with ADHD (despite its very real detrimental effects) are considered to be good creatives and problem solvers - as they have a tendency to solve problems through unorthodox, interdisciplinary and more divergent ways of thinking. Neuro-diversity is then incredibly beneficial in the workplace, and people with ADHD are even twice as likely to start their own business.3Due to a baseline deficiency in dopamine, the brains of people with ADHD often seek dopamine at its extremes, being primarily driven by interest, novelty, challenge, urgency and passion. This is why many children with ADHD may exhibit a resistance to focus in the classroom (where teachers brand them as lacking focus) but can easily spend hours immersed in something that genuinely thrills them. Because we cannot sufficiently regulate our attention, we are more easily driven by these intense parameters of stimuli. As many people with ADHD also exhibit a form of hypersensitivity to stimuli4, encountering newness can be an incredibly euphoric experience, and we can experience moments of intense stimulation, where we feel we are brimming with ideas and thoughts. This euphoria for novelty and creativity forms the underpinning theme for the first video. As many metaphors surrounding attention and focus centre around the semantics of sight (e.g out of sight out of mind, blindsided etc.) the eyes are used as the primary vessel to portray the fascinating exploration of different textures, movements and colours - evoking a child-like sense of discovery through the wide and constantly intrigued eyes. The ambient birdsong accompanying video too places us in a weird phase of childhood nostalgia. We see the subject of this video encounter different colours and textures in different combinations, learning patterns, movements and rhythms. She views herself from the outside, feels her skin, and starts to grasp what it means to be alive. All that she views is in fact a reflection of herself - there is so much rich imagery within her, so much untapped potential, so many ideas and visions and daydreams -  yet to be disrupted by the oppressive doctrines of family, school or work. 

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Ouvir O Galo, 2023

An audial-visual installation of three parts (L-R):

1# THE ETHEREAL NATURE OR NOVELTY 

/ THE ETHEREAL NOVELTY OF NATURE, 5:30 min

2# ALL OR NOTHING, 6:20 min

3#  A MOVEMENT IN PARALYSIS, 5:00 min 

Taking its name from an old Portuguese idiom (“ouvir o galo cantar e não saber onde” meaning ‘to hear the rooster sing without knowing where’), Ouvir O Galo is a dadaist installation which seeks to embody the symptoms and sensations of ADHD through audio and visual manipulation. In the act of disrupting the dated and binary conception of the disorder, this installation invites viewers to experience this audio-visual interpretation of symptoms to gain a deeper nuance of the disorder.

 Hinging on the artist’s personal experience of living with ADHD - it’s cyclical symptoms of overwhelm, paralysis, dysregulation, and creativity - the piece articulates a grammar of primary feeling over normative illusions of narrative to explore the complex absurdity of the disorder, hinting at its contentious relevance to wider social behaviour and contemporary culture. A culture which - like the artist and the film - is exponentially struggling to regulate its attention. 

The synthesis of audio and visual elements are purposely designed to demand the audience to fight with their attention - to ask what it is that makes you lose or gain your attention, and how these biases are socially and (for neurodivergent types) biologically corrupted. Within the film’s bizarre and disorientating imagery, the non-narrative format and unsettling orchestra of noise, a frantic, unstable and repetitive rhythm emerges to reflect the unpredictable and disorientating nature of living with ADHD, as the disorder is due to a biologically diminished ability for emotional regulation, self restraint and working memory - which are all key for personal organisation. 

This installation is the product of a lifelong journey of self understanding and growth, particularly as a female presenting person, who like many others, was denied support and diagnosis at a vital age due to gender biases in ADHD studies and their symptoms. To this day, the face of ADHD is overwhelmingly assumed as male, and the female gaze of this piece acts to widen the representation of the disorder. 

(please read the accompanying leaflet for more information on the disorder and installation pieces)