Ideas Change Everything: How “Embracing ADHD” Is An Idea Worth Spreading (TED Talk)
Published: April 15, 2024
Has it been one year since my TED Talk?! I still remember feeling exhilarated after delivering my Talk live at the TEDxMiltonHS event in Alpharetta, Georgia, on April 14, 2023, fully aware that it can be watched by millions globally.
It was the first time I transformed my personal stories about my Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) into a TED Talk.
That made preparing for a Talk that 40.5 MILLION subscribers to the official "TEDx Talks" YouTube channel could watch even more surreal.
The event's theme was "Ideas Worth Discovering," featuring other inspiring speakers: Mary Ottman, Mariah & Byron Edgington, Kadhir Rajagopal, Mary Fanaro, and more!
I delivered my Talk on April 14, and the TED organizers approved and published it on the TEDx Talks’ official YouTube channel on August 4, 2023. TED has an extensive approval and fact-check process to which I am grateful.
After only eight months on YouTube, my talk garnered such positive comments, filling my heart with inspiration and hope during this emotional rollercoaster of advocating for ADHD.
I am deeply thankful to all of you who supported, watched, commented, and shared my TEDx Talk!
I'm also grateful for the platform TED created to "discover ideas worth spreading" and recently changed the tagline to “ideas change everything.”
Because of you and TED, as I’m writing this, my message about embracing ADHD has received:
92K+ views
9.2K Likes
155 Comments (including my replies to all of your comments!)
Yes, I replied to ALL of your comments with gratitude! I love responding to all of them.
You shared your precious time by watching and commenting on my Talk.
Replying to your comments is the least I can do to thank you for your generosity. 🙏
I highlighted some of your precious comments in this post.
You can watch my TEDx Talk on YouTube, and read my TEDx transcript here!
TEDx Talk Transcript - Katherine Lizardo, Esq.: How Embracing ADHD Unlocks The Power Of Learning
TEDxMiltonHS, Alpharetta, Georgia; Delivered on April 14, 2023 (Friday)
I was on pins and needles. My husband had just picked up our mail. I saw him waving a white envelope. I could immediately see my school's emblem. "It's here!" I exclaimed.
I've dreamed of becoming a lawyer since I was a little girl in the Philippines. They say our first semester grades in law school determine if we'll make it. I felt my big American dream was riding on that small piece of an envelope.
I told him to open it since I was too nervous.
I heard him rip open the paper envelope. He read it, and with the longest pause that he could muster, he blurted out, "You got straight A's!"
“Yes!” I snatched the paper from him. I wanted to see it for myself. There were capital letters A’s.
Katherine triumphantly shouted “Yes!” to the news of her straight A’s in law school, as she delivered her TED Talk.
"I did it!!!" I started jumping up and down. Then, I hugged my husband tightly. We both started jumping up and down together. Then I let go and ran all over our tiny apartment, waving my hands and doing a victory dance simultaneously. I felt like I had conquered and staked my flag on Mount Everest. It felt good.
I didn't always feel that way. While I did well in school in the Philippines, where I was born and raised, there were embarrassing "episodes" I couldn't quite explain that made me question whether I was smart.
In 5th grade, I decided to learn an instrument for music class. With our limited selection of musical instruments, I chose to learn the organ, which was this bulky wooden box with two sets of black and white/yellowish keys like a piano, one on top and another at the bottom.
On the morning of my recital, I realized I had forgotten one crucial detail leading up to it: I forgot to practice!
“Who does that, right?!”
"How could I have forgotten to practice?" After all, I've been going to my organ class in school. Then I remembered we were given free time to practice the last few weeks. But I got distracted. Instead of practicing, I decided to figure out how the pedals worked.
I tried not to panic. I took a deep breath. I tried to convince myself that my music would return once I was on stage. That wishful thinking vanished.
I moved in slow motion onto the creaking wooden stage adorned with fragrant white flowers, feeling the gazing eyes of my classmates and family, waiting to hear me play.
I slowly sat on the small wooden stool and began playing. I cringed and tried not to close one eye in agony as I pressed each mismatched key with the unsynchronized beat. At this point, I was unsure what music I was playing. But I endured playing what I believed to be my song.
After I played the last note, I prepared myself for the worst part.
I stood up. I had to walk to the center of the stage. With my lips pursed, my eyes looking straight, not making eye contact, I took a bow in front of the silent crowd. I evaded my classmates, music teacher, and familiar faces for the rest of the event. I never talked to my family about that recital.
I never re-told that story until today.
I locked it in a box and buried it deep. I told myself, "That's never going to happen again," even though I had no idea how it happened. It was too painful to figure it out.
So I went about my life pretending it never happened.
I immigrated to the US in 11th grade in high school, went to college, graduated, and started working.
Then the embarrassing episodes came back, but this time at work. I started feeling depressed about my inconsistent performance. I didn't know what was happening. I finally decided to see a psychiatrist to find answers. That was when he diagnosed me with ADHD as an adult.
I didn't know what it meant. I thought only kids had this. So I decided to learn more about it. I started reading books, articles, and magazines.
I read a news article that described hyperactivity in ADHD. I wasn't hyper, so I decided to dig deeper and learn more.
Because I went to law school and finally achieved my American Dream of being a lawyer, I confirmed that I could have ADHD and be a successful lawyer, too.
That made me wonder why the only stories I heard about ADHD were the broken ones.
Then, I read an article about this 9-year-old boy whose teacher said he couldn't focus on anything and would likely not succeed. He couldn't sit still for 30 minutes in class but could swim for up to 3 hours at the pool after school. He transformed his wiggling in class into wiggling in the pool, becoming the best Olympic swimmer ever. How did Michael Phelps do that? Why was he successful and not other people with ADHD?
I have been going to therapy once a week for 21 years since my diagnosis. At some point, my therapist told me that my children would likely have ADHD, too. Finally, I confirmed it in Dr. Russell Barkley's book. He's a leading ADHD expert. In his book, he wrote: A parent with ADHD has a 40-57% chance of having a child with ADHD.
Knowing that my kids and grandkids' lives are also at stake, I became even more motivated to learn about my condition.
When I got pregnant twice while I was already a lawyer, I was blessed with two fascinating boys, one of whom has ADHD.
After becoming a mom and loving my children unconditionally, I shifted my objective from trying to overcome ADHD to embracing it. After all, it's in our DNA, according to the most extensive genome study ever conducted on ADHD published earlier this year.
Katherine delivering her emotional TED Talk at TEDxMiltonHS Event to a captivated audience.
Many would ask me: How did you become a lawyer and have ADHD? How are you flourishing with your ADHD?
That's when I realized I needed to share what I did because if I could help at least one person, that was enough for me. I wanted to share with you today the 3 intentional actions I took to get here:
Truly understanding my ADHD;
Reframing how to view my ADHD; and
Permitting myself to ask "Why" questions.
To truly understand ADHD, we must dig deeper than the surface. I remember over 20 years ago, my therapist recommended a book for me to read about ADHD. I bought it. After reading it, I had no idea what it said. So many technical concepts - such as "Executive Functions," were foreign to me, especially with English as my second language.
Now, I can Google unfamiliar terminologies when I read a book or watch a YouTube video with animation and graphics to help me understand the concept. Remember, with our evolving technology, don’t take that for granted. Learn deeper.
Today, my mission is to simplify ADHD to debunk many previous misconceptions. Unfortunately, despite the overwhelming available information, most are disjointed and based on outdated research. Worse, most of us believe in myths.
Even I was surprised by how little I knew. For example, I thought ADHD meant being hyper and unable to focus - after all, that's what the name is: "Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder."
Like many people, I relied on the name alone for a long time to define ADHD. I was wrong. This approach is a grave mistake because it's limited.
When you do your research, you'll understand that the name ADHD is incorrect. Doctors and experts know this. Most people with ADHD know this.
So why has the name yet to be changed? Because doing so will create a ripple effect of unintended consequences to laws, rules, and regulations that benefit people with ADHD. As a lawyer, I know the challenges involved in amending laws. I wish it were easy.
But in the meantime, we can do something about it by researching diligently to find the truth. The more we read about ADHD, the more we can compare and contrast different sources. That's when we can determine for ourselves which data are valid or mere folklore.
The second action is reframing your view of ADHD.
Once I understood ADHD more deeply, something magical and unexpected happened. I realized something inevitable:
Truly understanding ADHD leads to a positive perception of ADHD.
We see many examples of successful people with ADHD whose positive reframing of their own ADHD has inspired us to view ADHD similarly.
When I pull back the curtain, ADHD success stories come from those who genuinely understand their ADHD; they learn how to play up their strengths.
And when they realize that their ADHD symptoms make it harder to do something, they learn how to compensate for those traits.
That's the Power of Learning about yourself with ADHD.
And the profound learning doesn’t end there.
The third action is to give yourself and others permission to ask WHY questions.
Why did you think like that?
Why did you do it that way?
Why did you say it that way?
Why did it work for me this time?
Instead of simply memorizing content, engage in understanding the process.
Others are likely asking the same questions, too.
To recap, here are the 3 INTENTIONAL actions you can take to embrace your ADHD:
Truly understand your ADHD;
Reframe how to view your ADHD; and
Permit yourself to ask "Why" questions.
As you go about your day, there's a simple action you could do to remind yourself to embrace your ADHD.
Tap your heart with one hand like this.
Think of it as the "Like" button, but better.
Press your "Embrace ADHD" button.
Katherine tapping her heart with one hand, reminding the audience to press their “Embrace ADHD” button when managing their ADHD symptoms, as she delivered her TED Talk at the TEDxMiltonHS on April 14, 2023.
So…when you realize that you forgot your keys again, you start telling yourself, "Why can't I seem to remember simple things? Why can't I just pay attention? Why am I distracted?" or any other negative thoughts about your ability to learn….Press your "Embrace ADHD" button.
I’ll leave you with words I heard 3 days ago, and I paraphrase from my favorite inspirational writer and speaker, Simon Sinek, who also has ADHD:
There’s no negative or positive. It’s all contextual.
I have attributes - that, in the wrong context - can cause me pain, distractability, a little unreliable, and I talk too much.
In the right context - it’s a source of - great inspiration, exceptional creativity, and remarkable focus - in that I can do in 1 day what most people can do in a week. I call it hyperfocus.
I’m immensely grateful that I was born with it because it has given me my life, my purpose, and my kids.
In turn, if you have ADHD, it has given you many traits that make you…YOU. You got this!
Now that you've had a chance to read the transcript of my TEDx Talk, I want to personally express my gratitude for the uplifting comments from you, my readers and viewers. Here are a few that I'd like to highlight:
Plenty more comments fuel my mission that space here won’t allow. Check them all out on the TEDx Talks YouTube Channel!
Are you ready to embrace ADHD? Share in the comments below.
From the bottom of my heart, I appreciate you,
~Katherine
