i have long thought that adhd belongs within the autistic spectrum, only at the ‘opposite’ end from as. so far i have not spoken about this to anyone except my wife. one reason is the many similarities between as and adhd. in fact there are so many similarities that as is easily ‘covered up’ by adhd, if the latter is not medicated.
both have an ‘attention deficiency’ – addies are easily distracted or derailed by stuff around them, focusing on many things at a time, making them seem uninterested and inattentive around people; aspies focus too deeply on single stuff, making them seem uninterested and inattentive around people. where aspies seem uncommunicative (unless speaking about something they are focused on or interested in) addies seem over communicative – this ‘fixation’ on communication, especially around other people, seems to me to be the two ends of a stick, but with the same basic function: shielding the addie and the aspie from the overload they both suffer from being around people. both the addie and the aspie tend to forget things that are communicated but not directly to them, i.e outside their current focus. like dates, events, and instructions. both seem to be baffled at social rules and conventions. both have difficulties moving their focus from one thing to another if already ‘super-focusing’, which is another similar thing both addies and aspies do.
so to me it is not at all unlikely that adhd actually belongs on the autism spectrum.
My 'Morning' Coffee 