I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts and opinions, but we have some substantial disagreements.

The theories of Gabor Mate and others that ADHD is just a product of trauma are thoroughly refuted by scores of studies. Many people with ADHD don't have a history of trauma. Adoption studies show that genetics have a much stronger predictive value than childhood environment on developing ADHD.

That certainly doesn't rule out that some individuals can certainly develop traits that overlap with ADHD from a history of trauma. But neither trauma and nor socioeconomic inequalities are the major contributors to developing ADHD.

You don't seem to have read the actual article I wrote. Comparing individuals with ADHD to those without is not stigmatizing unless I say that one is better than the other, which I took great care not to do, because I don't believe it to be the case. Nowhere do I claim that anyone has a "perfect" brain, or how we would identify such a thing.

We have long term data, and dozens of studies that show that treating kids with ADHD with medications dramatically reduces deaths from accidents, and from suicides, and that untreated ADHD leads to lower rates of career success, marital success, incarceration, and premature death.

Unfortunately, not conforming to society often becomes a matter of life or death. But I haven't stated that I think this is because society is great and wise and non-conformists are defective or undesirable.

And yes, this is a sign that we need to make society more accessible to and embracing of a wide variety of neurodivergent individuals. I completely agree that healthy societies find healthier ways to create community for everyone, than we are currently doing in the US.