Abstracts
Abstract
What draws the ADHD brain to a job like librarianship? I was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 42, five years into my career as a teaching librarian at a large public university. As I talked to colleagues and interacted with fellow librarians online, I noticed a trend of librarians being open and honest about their neurodivergence. As a result, this autoethnography explores my personal experience as a teaching librarian with ADHD. I will outline how ADHD affects my role in the following areas: being part of a team, leading a classroom, collaborating with faculty, and managing planning, grading, and communications. I explore these themes through six common ADHD traits: idealism, being an empath, rejection sensitivity dysphoria, being scatter brained, imposter syndrome, and hyperfocus. I will explore how these traits affect me daily, as well as how they have affected my career trajectory.
Keywords:
- academic librarian,
- ADHD,
- librarian,
- neurodivergence,
- teaching
Résumé
Qu'est-ce qui attire le cerveau TDAH vers un métier comme celui de bibliothécaire ? On m'a diagnostiqué un TDAH à l'âge de 42 ans, cinq ans après le début de ma carrière de bibliothécaire enseignant dans une grande université publique. En discutant avec des collègues et en interagissant avec d'autres bibliothécaires en ligne, j'ai remarqué une ouverture et franchise grandissante chez les bibliothécaires au sujet de leur neurodivergence. Par conséquent, cette auto-ethnographie explore mon expérience personnelle en tant que bibliothécaire enseignant neurodivergeant. Je décrirai comment le TDAH affecte mon rôle dans les domaines suivants : faire partie d'une équipe, diriger une classe, collaborer avec le corps enseignant et gérer la planification, la notation et les communications. J'explore ces thèmes à travers six traits communs au TDAH : l'idéalisme, l'empathie, la dysphorie de la sensibilité au rejet, l'éparpillement, le syndrome de l'imposteur et l'hyperfocalisation. J'examinerai comment ces traits de caractère m'affectent au quotidien et comment ils ont influé sur ma trajectoire professionnelle.
Mots-clés :
- bibliothécaire,
- bibliothécaire universitaire,
- enseignement,
- neurodivergence,
- TDAH
Download the article in PDF to read it.
Download
Appendices
Bibliography
- Adams, Tony E., Stacy Linn Holman Jones, and Carolyn Ellis. 2015. Autoethnography. New York: Oxford University Press.
- ADDitude Editors. 2022. “What I Would Never Trade Away.” July 20. https://www.additudemag.com/slideshows/positives-of-adhd/
- Anderson, Amelia. 2018. “Employment and Neurodiverse Librarians.” STEMPS Faculty Publications. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/stemps_fac_pubs/82/
- Arabi, Shahida. 2022. “ADHD and Narcissism: Is There a Connection?” Psych Central, April 27. https://psychcentral.com/adhd/adhd-and-narcissism-similarities
- Biederman, Joseph, and Stephen V. Faraone. 2006. “The Effects of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder on Employment and Household Income.” MedGenMed: Medscape General Medicine 8 (3): 12. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1781280/
- Bondü, Rebecca, and Günter Esser. 2015. “Justice and Rejection Sensitivity in Children and Adolescents with ADHD Symptoms.” European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 24 (2): 185–98. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-014-0560-9
- Caldwell, Marcy. 2022. “Why Am I So Sensitive? Why ADHD Brains Can't Just Ignore Unfairness.” ADDitude, November 29. https://www.additudemag.com/why-am-i-so-sensitive-adhd-in-adults/
- Canela, Carlos, Anna Buadze, Anish Dube, Dominique Eich, and Michael Liebrenz. 2017. “Skills and Compensation Strategies in Adult ADHD – A Qualitative Study.” PLoS One 12 (9): 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0184964
- Chang, Heewon, Faith Ngunjiri, and Kathy-Ann C. Hernandez. 2012. “Data Collection.” In Collaborative Autoethnography. Volume. 8. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315432137
- Dodson, William. 2023a. “How Adults with ADHD Think: Uncomfortable Truths About the ADHD Nervous System.” ADDitude, Last modified J August 23. https://www.additudemag.com/adhd-in-adults-nervous-system/
- Dodson, William. 2023b. “New Insights Into Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria?.” ADDitude, Last modified October 11. https://www.additudemag.com/rejection-sensitive-dysphoria-adhd-emotional-dysregulation/
- Ellis, Carolyn. 2004. The Ethnographic I: A Methodological Novel about Autoethnography. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
- Ettarh, Fobazi. 2018. “Vocational Awe and Librarianship: The Lies We Tell Ourselves.” In the Library with the Lead Pipe. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/vocational-awe/
- Fuermaier, Anselm B. M, Lara Tucha, Marah Butzbach, Matthias Weisbrod, Steffen Aschenbrenner, and Oliver Tucha. 2021. “ADHD at the Workplace: ADHD Symptoms, Diagnostic Status, and Work-Related Functioning.” Journal of Neural Transmission 128 (7): 1021–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-021-02309-z
- Gershon, J., and Jonathan Gershon. 2002. “A Meta-Analytic Review of Gender Differences in ADHD.” Journal of Attention Disorders 5 (3): 143–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/108705470200500302
- Giles-Smith, Lori, and Emma Popowich. 2020. “Countering Conformity: Embracing the ‘Other’ and Supporting Employees with High-Functioning Autism in Canadian Academic Libraries.” In Critical Librarianship, 41:111–29. Advances in Library Administration and Organization Series. Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0732-067120200000041006.
- Groen, Yvonne, Ulrike Priegnitz, Anselm B.M. Fuermaier, Lara Tucha, Oliver Tucha, Steffen Aschenbrenner, Matthias Weisbrod, and Miguel Garcia Pimenta. 2020. “Testing the Relation Between ADHD and Hyperfocus Experiences.” Research in Developmental Disabilities 107: 103789. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103789
- Hallowell, Ned (@drhallowell). 2020. “High sensitivity and empathy, a two-edged sword of #adhd #adhdwomen #empath #rejection #sensitive #neurodiverse.” TikTok, October 11, 2020. https://www.tiktok.com/@drhallowell/video/6882447717293968646
- Hallowell, Ned. 2021. “ADHD and Empathy: A Double-Edged Sword.” Hallowell Todaro ADHD Center, January 28. https://www.hallowelltodaro.com/blog-raw-feed/2021/1/28/adhd-and-empathy
- Harvey-Smith, Ralinda. 2021. “What It’s like Parenting with ADHD Symptoms: ‘It Felt like My Head Was Going to Explode.’” The Washington Post, January 8, 2021.
- Hoben, John, and Jackie Hesson. 2021. “Invisible Lives: Using Autoethnography to Explore the Experiences of Academics Living with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).” New Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource Development 33 (1): 37–50. https://doi.org/10.1002/nha3.20304
- Holthe, Mira Elise Glaser, and Eva Langvik. 2017. “The Strives, Struggles, and Successes of Women Diagnosed With ADHD as Adults.” SAGE Open 7 (1): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244017701799
- Hupfeld, Kathleen E., Tessa R. Abagis, Jahla B. Osborne, Quynh T. Tran, and Priti Shah. 2022. “Hyperfocus: The ADHD Superpower.” Frontiers for Young Minds 10: 625433. https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2021.625433
- Kiraz, Seda, and Sencan Sertçelik. 2021. “Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Early Maladaptive Schemas.” Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy 28 (5): 1055–64. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.2569
- Littman, Ellen. 2020. “ADHD Is Different for Women: Gender-Specific Symptoms & Treatments.” ADHD Experts Podcast.https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/17293484/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/c3320b/
- Milioni, Ana Luiza Vidal, Tiffany Moukbel Chaim, Mikael Cavallet, Nathalya Moleda de Oliveira, Marco Annes, Bernardo dos Santos, Mario Louzã, Maria Aparecida Da Silva, Carmen Silvia Miguel, Mauricio Henriques Serpa, Marcus V. Zanetti, Geraldo Busatto, and Paulo Jannuzzi Cunha. 2017. “High IQ May ‘Mask’ the Diagnosis of ADHD by Compensating for Deficits in Executive Functions in Treatment-Naïve Adults With ADHD.” Journal of Attention Disorders 21 (6): 455–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054714554933
- Oscarsson, Martin, Martina Nelson, Alexander Rozental, Ylva Ginsberg, Per Carlbring, and Fredrik Jönsson. 2022. “Stress and Work-Related Mental Illness among Working Adults with ADHD: A Qualitative Study.” BMC Psychiatry 22 (1): 751–751. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-04409-w
- Pace, Steven. 2012. “Writing the Self into Research: Using Grounded Theory Analytic Strategies in Autoethnography.” TEXT 16 (Special 13): 1–15 https://doi.org/10.52086/001c.31147
- Reed-Danahay, Deborah. 2009. “Anthropologists, Education, and Autoethnography.” Reviews in Anthropology 38 (1): 28–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/00938150802672931
- Roggli, Linda. 2022. “Why Women with ADHD Feel Disempowered — And What We Can Do About It.” ADDitude, November 17. https://www.additudemag.com/female-empowerment-adhd-authenticity-tips/?src=embed_link
- Schäfer, Thomas, and Thomas Kraneburg. 2015. “The Kind Nature Behind the Unsocial Semblance: ADHD and Justice Sensitivity—A Pilot Study.” Journal of Attention Disorders 19 (8): 715–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054712466914
- Steed, Lee. 2022. “Oversharing Is My Default Mode. So is the RSD-induced Shame I Feel Afterward.” October 25. https://www.additudemag.com/oversharing-rsd-rejection-sensitive-dysphoria-hyperverbal-adhd/
- Young, Susan, Nicoletta Adamo, Bryndís Björk Ásgeirsdóttir, Polly Branney, Michelle Beckett, William Colley, Sally Cubbin, Quinton Deeley, Emad Farrag, Gisli Gudjonsson, Peter Hill, Jack Hollingdale, Ozge Kilic, Tony Lloyd, Peter Mason, Eleni Paliokosta, Sri Perecherla, Jane Sedgwick, Caroline Skirrow, Kevin Tierney, Kobus van Rensburg, and Emma Woodhouse. 2020. “Females with ADHD: An Expert Consensus Statement Taking a Lifespan Approach Providing Guidance for the Identification and Treatment of Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder in Girls and Women.” BMC Psychiatry 20 (1): 404–404. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-020-02707-9