Madelaine Kelly: Living with Attention Deficit Hyper Activity

Madelaine Kelly. “I put on the cat ears and then forget I have them on but other people look at me and smile. So, I am surrounded by smiles all day long.” Labeled a difficult child and unable to connect with other human beings, Madelaine Kelly made a cry-for-help suicide attempt before she was twelve.  Today she has a loving family, a successful business and a globe-trotting life style.    Shelley Berman and Adrienne Lauby talk with Madelaine Kelly. Here’s a preview: I started to run when I was basically five years old. I went to school very early because my Mom didn’t know what to do with me, so they put me in school when I was five.  And I was really, really tiny.  I was always really tiny.  And I just heard, ‘There’s a cross country race,” and I entered it.  And I came so far last. Here’s this little tiny thing coming. . .little tiny thing coming. . .here she comes. . .and everyone clapped and cheered for me.    And I thought, “I like that.  That’s attention I like.  So I think I’ll do more of that running thing.” Now, I spent the next probably 25 years being in the middle of the pack… [But] when I went and got diagnosed at 40, the therapist said that athleticism — running especially because I could do it anywhere, anyhow, anytime.    I didn’t need equipment, I didn’t need anybody else — saved my life — like, literally, saved my life. The post Madelaine Kelly: Living with Attention Deficit Hyper Activity appeared first on KPFA.