My portfolio consists concentration pieces intended for the AP Exam. My concentration is on the various aspects of ADHD. Some depict my own experience with ADHD. Others are more societal commentary.
Title: Bleeding Heart;
Medium: Acrylics;
A large component of ADHD is emotional dysregulation. As a result, emotions are overpowering with no real way to deal with it. ADDers feel the emotion stronger and are often overwhelmed by it. The more extreme the emotion, the more extreme the mental impact. Everyone deals with this in different ways, but the typical reactions are most often shutting down, lashing out, or breaking down.
Title: Empathy; Medium; Acrylics and Digital; Most people do not know how to empathize with people who think differently than them. Instead of trying to understand why an ADDer struggled with starting a project, they consider the ADDer lazy or defiant, thus projecting a broken version of themselves. On the flip side, people with atypical brain functions are expected to not only empathize, but cater to the neurotypical in the sense of changing who they are in order to mold to society. I would argue that as a result of this expectation, a good majority of neuroatypical people are better at empathizing than the neurotypical. That being said, it doesn’t mean we would react the way that is expected of us. Whether we’re distracted by something else or just truly believe ourselves to be in the right, more often than not, we can see why the person acted the way they did. The bottom line is that before asking someone to try and empathize, take a moment to think about if you are truly empathizing, or merely projecting your own thoughts and actions onto the other person. Too often, the answer is the latter.