ADHDifference

S2E43: ADHD & Adaptive Innovation + guest Douglas Katz

• Julie Legg • Season 2 • Episode 43

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Julie Legg chats with Douglas Katz — West Point graduate, Army veteran, inventor — about receiving an ADHD diagnosis in his 50s and how that moment reframed his entire life. Rather than seeing ADHD as something to “manage” or suppress, Douglas began to recognise how his urgency-driven thinking, rapid problem-solving, and constant scanning for stimuli had actually fuelled his success in the military and entrepreneurship. What once felt like quirks or liabilities became strategic advantages in the right environments.

From inventing adaptive tools inspired by his own physical limitations (such as his NULU knife), to embracing what he calls “Forrest Gumping” (allowing ideas to flow rather than forcing control) Douglas shares how understanding his brain allowed him to build a life based on ability rather than disability.

This conversation is a reminder that adult diagnosis is not an ending. It is often the beginning of self-acceptance, recalibration, and unlocking a different lens on success.

Key Points in the Episode:

  • Receiving an ADHD diagnosis in his 50s and the surprising sense of validation
  • Why military and startup environments can reward ADHD traits
  • The difference between managing ADHD and positioning yourself strategically
  • Reframing “disability” into contextual mismatch
  • The power of building a complementary team as an entrepreneur
  • “Forrest Gumping” — letting ideas flow instead of forcing control
  • Why intention is the most misunderstood ADHD trait
  • How adult diagnosis can become a turning point rather than a setback
  • Makers vs consumers — why producing creates regulation
  • Viewing ADHD as a superpower when aligned with the right environment

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ℹ️ DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or ADHDifference. Read More

DOUGLAS: For a while, I really kept everything in and tried to control things. And you as you probably feel the same way that when you do that, it's like trying to wrestle like a pitbull, right? It just it's anti...  it's counter to who you are. So when I started to understand the whole ADHD thing and inventing, I call it Forrest Gumping because in the movie where the leaf or the feather I think it was floats on the air and sort of you let things go where they go. If you know, how to control it, and this is why sometimes I call it a superpower, right? Like ADHD can be terrible and it can be really, really crippling, but it can also be this very fluid like journey. And so I'll let ideas come and I'll be like, "Wait a minute."

JULIE: Welcome to Season 2 of ADHDifference. I'm your host, Julie Legg, ADHD advocate, author of The Missing Piece (a woman's guide to understanding, diagnosing, and living with ADHD), and an unapologetic doer of many things. This season, we're turning up the volume with a global lineup of brilliant guests, bringing their lived experiences, insights, research, strategies, and resources. And of course, along with a healthy dose of humour and humility. Whether you're neurodivergent yourself or just curious, there's something here for every curious brain. Let's dive in. Today, I'm joined by Douglas Katz, a West Point graduate, Army veteran, inventor, and founder of NULU, a company designing adaptive tools for real life. Douglas was diagnosed with ADHD in his 50s and that moment didn't so much change who he was, it changed how he understood himself. For decades, Douglas saw his patterns such as quirks or liabilities, constant scanning, urgency-driven problem solving, or bouncing from insight to insight. But environments like the military and entrepreneurship, those traits weren't weaknesses, they were his strengths. His diagnosis became less about fixing himself and more about reframing his brain as something to work with, not against. In this conversation, we're talking about late diagnosis, re-evaluating an entire career in hindsight, and what it looks like to design tools and lives based on ability rather than disability. It's so wonderful to have you on the show, Douglas. Welcome. 

DOUGLAS: Thank you so much. I really appreciate. Again, this is my first ADD topical podcast, so I'm really looking forward to it. 

JULIE: Wonderful. Lots to unpack and share with our listeners which will be great. Thank you. Absolutely. Talking of which, you were diagnosed with ADHD in your 50s after a career as a West Point graduate, Army veteran, and an entrepreneur. Can you please take us back to that moment of diagnosis and share a little background on what prompted an assessment and what was happening in your world at that time?

DOUGLAS: It's funny because it was sort of the "Oh, yeah" kind of no kidding, but I think I always had certain traits that were more or less associated with that. And when I was younger in elementary school, there were gifted and talented programs that were basically full of all the people with ADHD because you learn differently. So I knew I was kind of different and when you know I interrupt people and I can carry on four conversations and all the things that you know, and it's always like okay and it for me it was more curiosity. It's like the genetic test for your dog and you're like "I know what my dog is but you know I want to find out what that other 10% is." So for me the interesting part of it is because I have a congenital heart issue they can't give me ADD drugs. So the VA were the ones who called me and it's funny because a couple years before that they started calling the ADD and ADHD they started moving it to their psychological group. So if you're like, "Hey, I want to have a conversation about this." Then they send you to like where people go for PTSD and all the other stuff. And it's like, "Wait a minute." So I went through all that and they called and they said, "Yeah, you totally have ADHD." But they're like, "Listen, you went to West Point, you graduated, you had successful careers in multiple industries, you're an entrepreneur. All like this sounds like you're doing pretty good. Like what is the challenge?" And I think for me it was more like are there ways to manage it? And that's when they said "Hey because you've got..."  I have a bad heart valve. They say "We can't give you anything that's a stimulant and all the ADHD and ADD drugs are stimulants." So I just kind of have to manage it. And for me and I know this goes beyond the question for me managing it has been more finding out where it's not a liability so it doesn't need management. And I think that's where the levelling up for me really happened. It was less the diagnosis than the understanding to say I have to put myself in the positions and the situations and the roles that reward this type of a capability as opposed to making it a disability. Agreed. And it's that when ADHD is no longer a disorder as in every moment is crazy chaos, it doesn't always have to be that way. And when we can pinpoint those triggers perhaps or those environments that do sets us off into spiralling or overwhelm. Yeah. Managing those moments though too true. Well, and for me the other side of it was finding the jobs that reward it. So when I did well at the academy and there's constant competing demands and consistent you know, uncertainty and all the things that like ADHD people are like "Oh this is just like swimming." So I think that was really good for me and I intentionally went into combat arms. I was an artillery guy and in the field you're always dealing with all these different things. And I was fortunate I never had to go to war, but you would, you know, when you're on the field, you'd be simulating those environments. A lot of the stimuli were the same. And then I left the army and went into corporate America which is way more button down and at one point maybe wasn't as constricting as it is but now I think really is not about rewarding you know, this kind of wild thinking that really comes to create innovation. So for me, I recaptured what I used to like in the army becoming an entrepreneur. And I think that people with ADHD make good entrepreneurs a lot of times if they can focus it right and if they can find the partners that balance out, right? They have to like I referred to it one day, you build a superhero team and there's people who like spreadsheets. You and I would blow our brains out looking at spreadsheets all day unless it was like something some rabbit hole we're chasing, right, where you're trying to prove an idea versus like okay inventory this is not, this doesn't work for me kind of thing. 

JULIE: You've talked about some of these ADHD traits as you said that work really well in urgency-driven environments like the army and like startups. Why do you think this urgent problem solving and bouncing between insights and actually having your ADHD mind thriving? Why do you think army and startups, those contexts work so well for your.... 

DOUGLAS: Well, because it's like a match-up, right? Like it would be if I brought a US plug to New Zealand and tried to plug it in, I'm assuming it wouldn't work, right? It's got to be that right connection. And I think that the ADHD and ADD mind, completely unscientific, always is looking for the stimuli, right? And that environment of uncertainty and consistent stuff coming at you all the time creates that and it's like oh okay this isn't the... or this is exactly how it's supposed to work right. And it's interesting because my wife and I are doing some business stuff together and she's the opposite and we went through an accelerator together. And she's like "I totally get it now like I totally get how you work and why it works well." And now she's also good at saying, "I'm not wired like you." So, I think it's, you know, she would need a person like me on her team who can say, "Okay, shit's hitting the fan. How can I manage all these things at one time?" And I think that that's a... it's a skill, but it's also a gift. And I think like with ADHD, when you look at it and say, "Okay, I can manage it." Well, why are you managing it? And I think that it's finding those areas where again where things aren't certain, all that, but I always put the warning label on there to say that we're terrible about finishing, right? So I think you have to get it. There's another kind of catalyst that has to be in there that says, "Okay, I'm gonna focus all this phenomenal energy that we have in this one direction where you can go wild in the micro, where all this stuff's coming at you." And you've got the people around you that are like, "Okay, we're going to play the long game." And that's how my entrepreneurial team works where I'll come up with a crazy idea and it might not start out that way or I'll come up with a couple rapid fire. And one of my team is an IP attorney and you don't get kind of more button down than that. But it's a really good balance because he'll say "Sometimes I don't know how you come up with this stuff and a lot of the ADHD folks have that creativity." 

JULIE: You're the founder of Nulu. So you're okay designing adaptive tools informed by a better understanding of ability rather than disability. So I'd love to hear more about what you're inventing at the moment and maybe how your understanding of ADHD has shaped the way you think about it or... 

DOUGLAS: Right. Well, it's funny. So between the time when I think that I reached out to you we're right now I'm working on a couple of things. Obviously, the knife, we've got our road map on that, but what's interesting is now that it's kind of focused into a road map, I'm less driven by the invention in that particular endeavour. My initial partner is another creative guy, but again, it's sort of that introverted, way more cerebral, unbelievable design guy. And together, we have a really good sort of that balance that you see. You know, I joke it's like the Elton John and Bernie Talopin or John Lennon and Paul McCartney where there's like the two different sides of it and that's worked out really well. You know, a linear knife is what people are used to. And this knife was made by my mentor in the knife making. And I like it because it's primitive and a typical knife is linear, right? Tip, blade, in this case, two blades, transition, and then handle. Sometimes you have a guard, sometimes you have a bolster. You've got all kinds of different things, but this is when people think of a knife. But the issue is it's optimized really for one thing. It's optimized, if you look, it's there's a straight line from my arm to the tip. And what that means is that this was the ultimate multi-tasker. It was designed around hunting and self-defence with the added benefit of cutting. The ultimate multi-tasker. Without this, you and I are not talking on a podcast because civilization doesn't happen, right? This is how we are able to be the apex hunter and all that. But there's a lot of shortcomings where to transfer force in cutting. Well, now you got downward force and you're trying to cut over here. So, either you have to saw or it's a very inefficient way to transfer force. Around the time that I got my shoulder rebuilt and I've got I have a lot of upper body upper extremity issues. And I like to cook and I'm a hobbyist knife maker. I was not able to make knives and I was not able to cook. So, I was in a bad way and I started playing around out in my garage and you can sometimes make knives without swinging a hammer. So, I started thinking about circular and there's a knife called the Ulu. It's an Inuit knife. So, northern basically northern hemisphere, the Arctic, you know, Alaska and I think some of Greenland. And it is a circular geometry and it was it called the woman's knife, or the everything knife because women didn't hunt. Like a man would have something like this for fieldcraft. Women had something like this which could cut, could dress an animal. It could cut hair and do a lot of things. So we tried to figure out like why does this really work and it's a circular geometry. So if you think this is the centre of the circle then I can find any point where my arm, my muscular skeletal structure will align with the blade for different kind of cutting. And it's but what we also found was the circular geometry allows you to use it also in sort of a cleaving motion or to be able to cut with the tip in a precision motion. So, it's more about efficient cutting. And what's interesting is with all of my ADHD and kind of being all over the map and all that, the other thing that really drives me is like hyper efficiency. And like how can you make something work better? How can you use real estate on something that isn't being used? So when I got my arm, when I got my shoulder redone, I created a sling where it was it had hook and loop on it and you could put different compartments wherever you needed to. So because I kind of said, "Hey, you know, you and I are built differently. Everybody's built differently. I want my phone case here and not here." So and it was all about this optimization. And for various reasons, that didn't make it to market. But now with the knife, my partners have gotten this vision and they're able to take it. So, we're working on an adaptive cutting board, which we should have out in 2026. We've got a consumptive version of the knife. And when I say consumptive, so let's say you're going to a restaurant and you want to eat at that restaurant, but you have the same limitations that you do at home. All of a sudden you're not independent again. And I have a very good friend from West Point who has MS and he bought one of the knives and he called he was raving about it and he said, "But I would love something when I go out to eat." So, we're trying to create one now. And we have an initial design where if you go to a restaurant, either they could stock it or it's something you could bring with you to then be able to still remain independent. But like all ADHD people, and I will say one thing before I go this way because it will speak to my invention and how and where I'm going with stuff is when I got out of the military, I didn't make that connection, the correlation between what I was doing in the military and how it worked really well with ADHD. So you get out and you're like, "Okay, I'm going to fit the bill. I'm going to be controlled. I'm gonna gonna gonna show what people think they want to see when they think of a military guy and a West Point and all that. So, for a while I really kept everything in and tried to control things. And you was you probably feel the same way that when you do that, it's like trying to wrestle like a pitbull, right? It just it's anti... it's counter to who you are. So when I started to understand the whole ADHD thing and inventing I call it Forrest Gumping because in the movie where the leaf or the feather I think it was floats on the air and sort of you let things go where they go. If you know how to control it.... and this is why sometimes I call it a superpower, right? ADHD can be terrible and it can be really, really crippling, but it can also be this very fluid like journey. And so I'll let ideas come and I'll be like, "Wait a minute." So right now my wife and I are working on a product called GolfFresco. And I don't know in New Zealand if there's a lot of golf cart communities where you know, they there might be a golf course but generally people will have a car or two and a golf cart. You drive around. That's what you kind of your mode of transportation. We were down by the river. My town is on a river and there was a Venetian night where they light up all the boats and everybody was sitting around on their golf carts and trying to balance food and drinks and all that. So I'm like, well, why not a bistro table? So GolfFresco is the bistro table for golf carts and utility vehicles and it's also great for outdoor stuff like it's great for gear and shooting and all that kind of stuff. So, those are the two primary things I have going on right now. And then with my knife, what I'm finding is that it's a very friction-based sale to sell adaptive products. The infrastructure isn't there, the e-commerce structure isn't there. So, on the side, kind of outside of it, but I'm going to bring it to my partners. I'm working on an AI based tool that can take your situation and say, "Okay, how can my knife be best utilized? What are the features, the benefits, the use case? How can you use it?" It could tell you like which grips to use. And then the in the US it's the infrastructure for helping people figure out where they could borrow one if they want to before they buy or how they might be able to get it reimbursed or what verbiage to bring to their doctor. There's just not a lot of that. So I'm trying to build a tool where AI really is able to work dynamically with them. And that's where I just kind of let things go. And then I love being an entrepreneur because again you'll know with ADHD like there are times where I'll stay up till 3 in the morning learning how to code or how to use AI to code to build the tool. 

JULIE: You have so many ideas and brilliant ideas and they all come from experience, right? It's all overcoming a challenge for you and then how you can apply that not only to better your own life but to better others as well. Where do you draw the line? You said there's a couple of things that you thought long and hard about but didn't come to fruition. With all of your ideas, which ones float to the top? How do you decide which one has got...? 

DOUGLAS: That's a great question. And I think what and this is where it's tempered, right? Where you learn to sort of, you know, I guess any superhero movie, right? Where they get their power and they're like, oh, and it's always out of control and then they learn how to focus it. And I went through a couple business accelerators and there's times where it's like, okay, am I doing this idea for myself, right? Am I, is there something around my house that I'm going to wire a different way or do something like that? And I think that's sort of trial and error and it's playing around and having a good time. Like at one time I bought a vintage Harley-Davidson golf cart and I just want to learn to work on a carburettor, right? So that was something where it wasn't like an idea that I that had any risk and I had some I had a good number of ideas that didn't take off before Nulu, but I went through an accelerator and what they taught was learn about commercialization. So I'll have a ton of good ideas and what we haven't really been using it as much because we were we're working on some other ventures but that's kind of sunset a little bit. But the same team when we had ideas came up with sort of a rank weighted system where if there was an idea okay is it commercializable what's the complexity and I think to some degree the this this counterbalance of optimization and understanding that resources are not infinite, right? And I didn't really think of it before, but your question really takes me again back to the military where you have all these competing demands, but you have only so much ammunition, you only have so much time, right? So, you're working within these constrained structures to begin with. And maybe that helped me. I think that for many people the military many people with ADHD would be a really good way to I'm gonna get really, really like esoteric here but it is almost like making a knife where you start with a good piece of steel and you shape it and you heat treat it and then you temper it. And the tempering is almost as important, if not more important than the heat treating because it allows that you're not going to snap that knife. And I think tempering would help all everybody with ADHD and have that ability to stop and go, okay, this idea that I'm coming up with, I came up with an idea for knife makers where, you know, it would have a bubble and you could kind of know what angle you're working at. It was cool. I made a prototype I was playing around with, but then I'm like, okay, the market's too small. Like, there's just no reason to go that way. And my sling, we came up against some challenges of how the insurance structure is set up in the US and where buying a product like this would work. And I think that's where it would help people. So instead of saying how do I manage my ADHD, it's more how do I manage the process to be able to focus it that way? And that's how I think how you figure out what's the right business. Now the other thing is and without working with seasoned business people to pivot and ADHD people can pivot other people have some trouble pivoting sometimes and I think because people with ADHD also have a fairly good relationship with failure and I say that in all the best way. Like when I went to West Point, I remember one guy got a B and he's like, "Oh my god, this is my first B." And I'm like, "I got a B." Right? So you I was just in a much better headspace. And I think that that those things if you can help the people with ADHD understand that pivoting is not failure or getting rid of a business isn't failure. If you can look and say, "Great business idea. The market was there, the timing wasn't there." And understanding that, well, then you're able to again temper it and focus it the right way. So, there's a couple ideas I had. I had an idea. I'm a disaster preparedness guy. Probably not a surprise. And I had an idea at one point about sort of mainstreaming it. And I realized why it didn't work now. And I do think people with ADHD tend to internalize. So the whole time I was trying to drive the business and I was trying to drive the business as opposed to sort of going back to that letting it float and feeling where I'm headed to go, oh good idea, not necessarily the right timing. Who knows? I'll put it in the back burner. 

JULIE: You've said lots of many things including Forrest Gumping, you're pivoting and from that I guess is the resilience which is awesome. I'm with you though, there needs to almost be a threshold for us to look back at our mad crazy ideas and to see which ones go through to the next funnel, I guess. Otherwise, there could be years lost, isn't there? And excitement. 

DOUGLAS: That's a good point. That's a great point. I'm so sorry to cut you off. I'm like on a roll. But like with GolfFresco where it would have been a heavy lift I found a manufacturer very quickly. So I think the other thing on ideation and I didn't want to pivot too quick because I would have forgotten what I needed to say or wanted to say is sometimes it's like "Oh okay this is a move now thing because we found a manufacturing partner who can be co-founders and solve a lot of problems with inventory and all. Okay. So boom, we got to go this way." And I think that's that pivot, right? That's that quick like, "Oh, okay, this is the way I have to go." And it's unique to people wired like us. And I'm so sorry I cut you off there. 

JULIE: No, no, no. That's great. No, we're talking about ADHD. This is great interrupting, Douglas. And you're in a welcome space. Most welcome to do that, absolutely. ADHD from your perspective, what do you think most people misunderstand about ADHD, especially in high functioning or capable adults, right, who have built business or successful business careers? 

DOUGLAS: Intention. It's intention totally. And that question was perfectly timed. I don't know if you meant it, but when I cut you off and I felt I feel bad about it, but you know how it is, right? When you have ADHD, you got to and what's funny is someone with ADHD who gets interrupted never takes it personally, right? But I think it's intention. So people think you're intentionally doing it as opposed to our intention having to be not doing it which is sometimes hard because I think we also process like we've got a lot of RAM. And you hear what someone's saying and people interpret it as "Oh you were just waiting to say what you wanted to say," where no, you're processing it really quickly and actually able to have a conversation at a different speed. So, I think that it is intention because they look and they're like, "Oh, you don't listen or like you're all over the place." As opposed to, "Oh, I get it." And that was the levelling up for my for me with my family. And my daughter is just like me. What's really funny is because she was diagnosed young. If we're in the car together, you know, we're having three conversations at the same time very, very easily. So, but she understands the intentionality or the unintentionality of things. And I think that's the only place that it's a disability is in relationships because then I think you get self-conscious. And this is an ADHD podcast, so I didn't say it. But when I go on podcasts now, I say while the interview's going on, "I want to say I've got rampant ADHD and if I cut you off, it's completely unintentional and I won't be offended." Right? And that helps. So I almost now feel that if you can break that barrier early, then people are like, "Oh, I get it" and they're much better at kind of rolling with it as opposed to sometimes getting social anxiety when you have ADHD because people think that you're rude when you're not, right? You're just being like, nobody gets upset with the unconversationalist who's very quiet and looks contemplative and they may be, but people get uncomfortable with the overconversationalist, which I think a lot of us fall into. 

JULIE: How does difference and not disorder, which is, you know, the name of this podcast, ADHDifference, how does the difference lens change what's possible for people who receive an adult diagnosis later in life? How do you think it changes it? 

DOUGLAS: Well, I think I think one, it should be a closure point, right? Where if you find if you if you hate the job you're in and you find out that you're ADHD late in life, I think you have to look at say there's a through line there. So if you're hating your job and you're probably not performing as well, it could be driven by it being a disability in that situation as opposed to an aptitude somewhere else. And that's where the difference comes in because I think most of the time when you're evaluating ability or disability, you're doing in the context of a certain job environment or everything else. And when you stop and look and say there were probably people in the field when I was in the army who were like, "Holy crap, like that guy can continually have all these things going on at once." And everybody could do it to some level, but I think some people are like masterclass in it. That's when you look and go, it's a difference. And I think the harder part late in life is backtracking to that fork to say, okay, this is the way I need to go versus something else. But maybe if you're in a large company, an ability to have a good conversation with your leadership team to say, "Hey, this is something that's just been brought to my attention about me." and you know having maybe are there projects I can work on or things that I can do that may give me opportunities to better perform and even that may be enough to sort of tame that beast and provide opportunities to show a gift as opposed to being evaluated in a way that everybody else is. Because again you know it right where you just it's a different thought pattern and oh the other hard thing is when you see it as a difference, it's also us understanding how we see things. So the sometimes with the disability part, it is a bit if you fall into the oh people need to understand me. And I think that's part of it, but also being able to stop and go, wait a minute, like the way I see stuff is entirely unique to my wiring, which is a smaller percentage of the population than... And I think that's another part of it is being sensitive to that. And then when you look at it that way, it's more it is more of a difference as opposed to something because a disability just means you can't do a task. And I don't think there are really few tasks where this would be a disability. I think people can be resilient unless you're, unless you're really, really have it where it's crippling ADHD. But it could be more of a disabling thing I think when you're when you're not using it the right way. 

JULIE: That's so true. And for someone who's listening who has been diagnosed later in life and are kind of re-evaluating their entire past, I know I did when I got diagnosed at 52, whether it's their career, relationships, or just the sense of self, what would you most want them to hear?

DOUGLAS: A podcast like this, right? Something that says, "Oh, one, I get it." Right? I don't think it's ever surprising for people. I think it's validating. So I think what people are looking for is oh that answers a lot. But I think the what now? And I think it's the you know, they need the hand to reach down to pull them up and say "Hey this is a good thing right? Even if you find out late in life that you have a superpower, you still have a superpower." So start to look at it that way and find the opportunities to use it in a way that's true to who you are. And maybe it's hobbies, right? Like the other thing isn't again probably not surprising is I have like 15 hobbies all that I that I work on. You know, in a day I might go, you know, make a knife, work on a knife or make a knife for a couple hours and then go, you know, I hand load my own ammunition. I'm... I like to shoot. And go work on that and then you know, so you know it's I think then you can look and say okay I shouldn't be doing something consumptive like watching TV or something like that because then all you're doing is clicking or you're falling into the algorithmic magnetism that they build it upon where if you're able to find those right hobbies there's times and this is where I think people with ADHD are good makers a lot of times, right? If you've got a hobby like painting or like, that's what my daughter's been painting lately, or I you know I'm doing the invention thing and the knives. I can go in my garage, turn on some music, and I might work on three or four knives. And I think for people then who've got ADHD who aren't doing something like that, if in work and in leisure they're doing things that are ultimately counterproductive to what their wiring is, it's just not it's going to be a bad outcome. Especially if they fall into an identity of "Oh it's a disability and oh now you know, now I'm kind of seeing why is it's putting me in this situation," as opposed to saying "Well wait a minute right," and go from there. And there's almost a connection, a correlation between all the stuff I'm doing now and that adult diagnosis of saying "Okay this is who you are it's like okay, let's go in all you know, all in pushing all the chips." 

JULIE: The producers rather than the consumers are the are the most happiest. Those ADHDers that are using that are doing rather than sitting and just consuming are just happy, happy. 

DOUGLAS: So, well, and I think there's an aspect of if you're a maker or if you're doing something, it's also a lot of different stimuli at once, right? So, you're touching something, you're hearing, you're... So, when I'm out in my shop, I'm actually way more focused, but it's because I think I'm plugging in more of the things that need to be satiated than when I'm like watching TV and sitting on the phone while I'm trying to watch the same like it just doesn't work that way. And there's times where I know I might be kind of going through a little bit more of a rise in my ADHDness where I will go out in my shop and just again, you know, turn on whatever music and just kind of let the day happen and not try and control it, but let it go. And I think that would help a lot of people. Like sometimes you can't leave your job, but then it's get off your screens and get off all this other stuff, kind of going full circle. The... and it's funny I even remember this. The program I was in in elementary school was called SAGE. And I don't remember what the acronym stood for, but it was this very different learning. You know, if we were learning about archaeology, it wasn't in a book. We would, you know, there were two sections of the class and we would create a culture and then bury all the artifacts. And this was like in the 80s, right? This was before people were kind of thinking this way, and a lot of the learning had this sort of multi-sensorial aspect of, you know. You're going to be very involved and working with people who are in sort of that same ideation mindset. And I think that helps also use it the right way because if you if you're able to do that, then you learn really young what it's good for. Maybe that helped me. What was her name? Thank you to Mrs. Kemp back in third grade, I think it was, who ran that class. And because I do think I had the advantage of having been not diagnosed with ADHD but being classified as gifted and talented but having the same faulty wiring or different wiring than people now who are being medicated. I was never medicated. So, you know, I think part of it is also understanding that it isn't a diagnosis when kids are young. Maybe it needs to be that it's a classification and that teachers and educators should be not looking and saying, "How do we make this kid into this kid?" Saying from a career, you know, where we're telling this kid to go and mentoring them, helping them understand this is the gift that you have and this is why you should be looking at these kind of jobs regardless of whether you think this one's going to make you a lot of money. You know, go in this direction, you'll be happier. I think that's got to be where we start thinking. Because again I've always been sort of uncomfortable with the disability classification because I'm like is it right? Like again maybe it hurts some relationships but generally I think it works pretty good. 

JULIE: You have been marvellous Douglas. Thank you so much. Very inspiring. You've been very inspiring with all your mad wonderful inventions. I love your insights and perspectives and I am sure that the listeners will as well. So on that note, I would just like to thank you for your time today and wish you all the very best. Thank you. 

DOUGLAS: And if I could say one thing, one aspect of this dialogue that really just hit me was what do you tell somebody who just got diagnosed? And what I would say is anybody can reach out to me. I am now trying to, as if I'm not doing enough, but it actually is complimentary to my other businesses, launch a speaking business to I'm primarily talking about what I'm doing with the knife and adaptation and thinking about ability and disability in a different way. But I have a feeling at some point I will have some talks on ADHD and ADD because I have a very different view on how it plays out. I just don't think it's... I don't think it's the way people perceive it. And thank you for giving me a chance to talk about it. 

JULIE: Absolutely. And your links will be in the show notes so listeners will be able to come down and find you. And I think this awesome beautiful broader conversation about ADHD just lifts it up and into people's living rooms or their car stereo depending on where they're listening to this right now. And hearing different perspectives and just making it more alive, less clinical, more liveable. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.

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Julie Legg

Host
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Jel Legg

Co-host
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Douglas Katz

Guest