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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 1997)
CONTACTING US NEWSROOM: ADDRESS: (541)346-5511 Oregon Daily Emerald E-MAIL: P.O.BOX 3159 ode<®oregon uoregon.edu Eugene, Oregon 97403 ONLINE EDITION: www.uoregon.edu/~ode Perspectives EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Sarah Kickler EDITORIAL EDITOR Mike Schmierbach NIGHT EDITOR Nicole Krueger $8888 ADD adds to challenge of finals week Doctors are learning more about Attention Deficit Disorder while those diagnosed continue to deal with the symptoms Heading into Finals Week, there is an elite number of us who have to study particularly long and hard, usually by our selves in a very quiet environ ment, if we are serious at all about doing well in our studies. It’s not because we’ve procrastinated and now need tocram. It’s not because we’ve been hanging out all quarter comfortable to have school as a context, but rendering its require ments secondary to our lives. And it’s not because we need to com pensate for the deficits of our in tellect. (On the contrary, as a group — particularly those of us who have managed to make it to college — Dr. Mike Dunn at our Student Health Services and other “experts” in the field claim that t he majority of us have been iden tified as possessing a high degree they be given medication to ameliorate it? Should their behavior be medically man aged? Or are they manifest ing such behavior for rea sons other than a neurological, biochemical one? It was once thought that the hyperactive element had to accompany ADD, which is why boys were historical ly identified with it and girls rarely. Girls simply did not act out like the boys, for obvious reasons. It was thought, too, that ADHD was outgrown after adolescence and never proceeded into adult hood. But such beliefs have since been proven er roneous so that there has been a growing number of women, especially, and other adults who have stumbled onto the discov ery that they have had ADDall along. \ OPINION ot intellectual ability with ex cellent compen satory skills). We have to real ly crank up the studying be cause we have Hannah Dillon an invisible dis ability which makes writing papers and do i ng exams a greater challenge than they already are. The first time I had ever heard the name of this particular disabil ity was when an acquaintance blamed her string of non sequiturs on it. I thought she was either in vokinga lineout of'Saturday Night Live” or coining her own witticism in response to a wry (and now NOT!) P.C.-ism, “verti cally, horizontally, rectilinearly, etc., challenged.” She claimed she had Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), and I was duly amused, then. But not now. There has been a lot of hype around ADD in recent years. After its identification by the medical community, it began to be official ly diagnosed beginning in 1975. Since then, it is being diagnosed with more frequency in school kids these days who display a hy peractive component and are dis ruptive in class. The debate has been raging as to whether or not restless, bored and inattentive stu dents actually have ADD/ADHD (hyperactive component). Should Such a revelation al lows one to begin to make sense of the choices made and to understand the almost instinctual, self-selecting direction pursued concerning kinds of work, friends, liv ing arrangements, field of study, hobbies, etc. And the sensibilities one has de veloped have been influenced by the presence of ADD in one’s life. For instance, it could be assumed that a person with ADD might have had a hard time sustaining attention on that final, 10-minute uncut scene in “Big Night.” But someone with ADD is likely to insist that if he or she is going to offer attention, the quality of the object had better be very much worth attending to. As of yet, there has been no uni versally accepted standardized criteria for diagnosing Attention Deficit Disorder. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSMIV), compiled by the American Psychiatric: Asso ciation in 1994, provides a set of descriptive characteristics of the disorder to help formulate a diag nosis. I recommend this tome to you because it makes fascinating reading on any rainy afternoon. The DSM IV presents some of the symptoms of ADD this way: “Six (or more) of the following symptoms of inattention have per sisted for at least six months to a degree that is maladaptive and consistent with development lev el : Inattention — (a) often fai Is to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in school work, work, or other activi ties (b) often has difficulty sustain ing attention in tasks or play activ ities (c) often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly (d) often does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish school work, chores, or duties in the workplace (not due to opposi tional behavior or failure to under ? stand instructions) (e) often has difficulty organizing tasks and ac tivities (f) often avoids, dislikes or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained mental effort (such as schoolwork or homework) (g) often loses things necessary for tasks and activities (h) is often easi ly distracted by extraneous stimuli and (i) is often forgetful in daily ac tivities. Student Health Services has cre ated a committee to formulate and implement tools for diagnosing At tention Deficit Disorder. There are physicians, such as Dunn, who are well versed in this disorder through years of exposure to it. For otilers, it is unfamiliar territory. I applaud Student Health Services for realizing its need to establish such criteria and not to simply rely on referring students out. I appreci ate the committee’s efforts in reach ing out into the community to gath er information on what is being used as diagnostic technics for ADD which will serve to inform and aid us. To all of you with ADD during fi nals: Good luck and get some sleep. It’s tired and you must be late. Hannah Dillon is a columnist for the Emerald. Her uvrk appears on alter nate Fridays. Her views do not neces sarily represent those of the Emerakl. LETTERS TO THE E0IT0H No tolerance of rape In light of the new Student Conduct Code and new urinal screens, which are actions that attempt to stop rape culture, it is amazing that the University finds it acceptable to lightly rap the knuckles of Danta Graham-Preston (ODE, Nov. 18). He did not just simply sexually misbe have, he violated the rights of two women — he raped them. He should be punished to the full extent of the law. I do not feel a two-year expulsion is harsh enough. This man should never have the opportunity to attend our so-called en lightened University, roam free and have the same rights as any other stu dent. We need to send the message that any violation of the Student Conduct Code, especially those violations as heinous as rape, will be met with zero tolerance. Michelle Andrews Comparative literature Stop illegal searches I was truly shocked and appalled as I read the recent Emerald account of anoth er in a long line of abuses on the part of the Eugene Police Department (ODE, Nov. 12). The article outlined a situation in which an officer performed a warrantless search of a residence based upon alleged viola tions of open container and “minor in pos session” ordinances. When the tenant ex ercised her Fourth Amendment rights, she was taken into custody for “interfering with police.” The officer then proceeded to search the residence, where he found a small number of marijuana plants. Although there exists a doctrine known as “search incident to arrest,” the arrest must be valid. The conduct of this officer flies in the face of all notions of justice un der both state and federal law. The Oregon Court of Appeals addressed this situation in State vs. DeKuyper, 74 Or. App. 534, 703 P. 2d 261, which states in pertinent part, “Police officers' entry into defen dant’s apartment was illegal, and any items found and seized therein were prop erly suppressed, as only offense which of ficers had probable cause to believe per sons in apartment had committed was that of being minors in possession of alcohol, the latter offense was not a ‘crime,’ but was only a violation,’ and thus police could not enter therein, let alone arrest people in the apartment or search them.” Please be aware that you have the right to be secure in your persons and houses from unreasonable searches and seizures. If a police officer asks to search you, your vehicle, or your residence — “just say no.” There has been a growing problem with out-of-control parties in the West Univer sity area. This problem is being exacerbat ed by the conduct of our local police force. An officer was quoted as saying that the problem is due to the “attitude” of many partygoers. I submit to the Eugene police that if they had any respect for the rights of citizens, perhaps they would not be confronted with that “attitude.” In the im mortal words of Louis Brandeis, “If we de sire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.” John Davis Law
