Is ADHD really an excuse for bad behaviour?

There is a report on the Hendon Times website about a young man, who has been handed an ASBO banning him from the estate where he lives.


http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/8234346.Teen_handed_ASBO_banning_him_from_home/?ref=mc

For me perhaps the most interesting thing is the ensuing debate from various local "commentators". The debate got spicy when Lucylovespurs added this comment :-

lucylovesspurs, n20 0dl says...
9:43pm Wed 23 Jun 10

I want everyone to know that Ashley has A.D.H.D and Conduct Disorder.He is not a piece of worthless scum,and the paper really hasn't told the whole truth here! There are always to sides to a story. And i think its sad that people have judged him by just reading this!

Now Lucylovesspurs is seemingly at an advantage over the other commentators, in that she actually knows the young man in question. She alleges that the paper "hasn't really told the whole truth". Sadly, she doesn't tell us why she has accused the Times of not giving the whole story. Rather predictibly a certain commentator completely misses the point and hurls a few more insults. Lucylovesspurs then  tells us

it was his mother who asked for the ASBO to keep the other children away from him!

Now I've no idea whether this is true, but it certainly seems to cast a new slant on the story. One commentator called "Reality Bites" seems to think that ADHD is no excuse. This commentator probably knows nothing about the condition. I know a little bit. One of my nephews suffers from it. He was raised in the USA, where the condition is treated with stimulants such as amphetamine sulphate which allow the sufferer to concentrate properly. As a result my nephew has a degree. It seems that Ashley here has had problems for some time. Has he been receiving treatment for the condition? Have social services tried to help the family sort the problem out. I suspect that like many disorders, if the child of a rich person suffers from the condition, the outcome is significantly different from if a poor child suffers from it. I've read about some of the "jolly japes" our Prime Minister and our Mayor of London got up to as members of the Bullingdon club. As they were wealthy, they got away with it. If they wore hoodies and lived on Council estates, such behaviour would now be prime ASBO fodder.

Sadly though, the biggest problems in society aren't caused by kids with ASBO's and ADHD. They are caused by a group of people who are extremely greedy and extremely rich. They erect rabbit hutch flats to house families, which are completely unsuitable for families. They bankroll political parties which starve community groups of funds, whilst allowing developers to ruin the environment. They vote for socially divisive policies where front line services are cut, educational programs are cut back and wages and conditions are terrible for working people. They seek to push single parents into work, so that there is no one home to look after unruly teenagers and they allow schools to employ selection policies which see rich parents driving their children across the borough to the best schools, whilst poor children end up at the sink schools, thus perpetuating the cycle.

In answer to the question at the top of the blog. No I don't think ADHD is an excuse for bad behaviour, but I think people with ADHD need help. I do however think being stinking rich is an even worse excuse.