Originally Posted by Excargodog

Sorry guy, but you got screwed and it isn't the FAAs fault. Anyone who has a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder becomes a huge liability to anyone that must certify you. Mishaps happen in aviation, and if one does happen and the person it happens to has previously been diagnosed ADD OR ADHD, anyone who has ever certified them medically acceptable for flying duties has just had their career ended - unless they can demonstrate that they have done EVERYTHING, at least everything short of a brain biopsy - to prove that either you never really had it or it has now gone away.

And that is likely to cost you thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars. And it doesn't matter if you never really had it to begin with, MOST people diagnosed with it never really had it to begin with. Yet somehow the US has a higher percentage of kids diagnosed with this than any other country in the world. Why is that? Well, I'll tell you my theory.

Most likely your parents - like the parents of most of the others who go through this process - were referred by the school. Far more likely than not you were a male, and possibly being a little disruptive, i.e. what we used to call a little boy.

Sometimes the school's go so far as to tell the parents that the kid can't come back to school until they have been evaluated, and sometimes even provide a listing of healthcare providers who "are good at handling this." So who benefits if the diagnosis is made?

Well, the school benefits, because they get extra feddy bucks when kids are diagnosed as a "special needs" kid. They also get to exempt themselves from counting that person if they bring down the average in standardized tests of the school, or keep the scores in if they would bring the average up.

The school and the teacher get a pass if they don't teach the kid anything and special kudos if they do.

The kid gets a pass on acting out or otherwise misbehaving because, he ain't a bad kid, he's just got a medical problem. The parents get the same pass, even if if they raise a total brat.

The healthcare providers make a bundle on this racket, giving controlled meds to healthy kids who don't really need it takes little time, but it's all billable. They also get taken out to lunch by the "detail man" for the companies that make adderall, Ritalin, and similar. Dinners and free CME too. Oh, and a lot of swag for the office, the office staff, even their own kids whose futures they aren't about to blight by giving them that diagnosis.

And of course, the pharmaceutical companies that make this stuff are just reeling in the cash, billions and billions, even after paying the detail men and the food, drinks, bought and paid for CME lecturers extolling the 'fact' that ADD is under diagnosed and under treated, and of course even more swag.

But karma's a ***** and somebody has to pay a price, and unfortunately right now that's you. So bend over and spread em.

But don't blame the FAA, because all they are doing is covering their own rears, they didn't create your problem. And seriously, there isn't one damn thing you can do now but go through the process or give up on an aviation career. There ain't any shortcut.

All you can really do at this point is to not let anyone hang a bogus diagnosis on your own kids.