Taiwanese Who Has Come to the United

¶ … Taiwanese who has come to the United States and overcome a number of difficulties in order to be a success. I grew up in Taiwan, and came to the United States for high school. This presented me with a number of cultural challenges. Though there are other Taiwanese students, America still has a completely different culture from what I am used to. Everything is different, so for me that has resulted in a number of challenges that I had to overcome in terms of cultural adjustment. The language barrier was a big one as well. I learned some English growing up, but not enough for me to excel in the U.S., so I had to overcome the language barrier quite quickly in order to be at my best.

In the ninth grade, I was diagnosed with severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This presented me with a lot of problems, because there are some stigmas with respect to ADHD that persist, especially in Asian culture. In Taiwanese people, there is a high demand for academic performance, and one is expected to give an incredible amount of attention to school work and to concentrate intensely. I was often unable to do this, because of the ADHD, which was not treated at the time. I was often mistaken for being "lazy" and "unmotivated," some of the social stigma that people with ADHD face in Taiwanese culture. I had bad report cards, and was subjected to physical punishment for this poor performance. There was simply no understanding of my condition, nor that the condition is something that could be treated.

When I moved to the United States during my freshman year, I began working with an education consultant. It was at this point that I was diagnosed with ADHD. I was given medication and monthly psychology sessions as well. This has resulted in improvements over time. My GPA is now 3.3, but this is dragged down by Ds and Fs from my early years. My grades recently are higher, and indication that the treatment I am receiving has really helped me. I also took to sports, and I play varsity football as a quarterback.

Now the time has come to pursue a college education. I have improved my grades significantly of late, and people are starting to be more understanding that I have a condition. I am not and never was a lazy student. There are still some issues that I have to deal with, for example there is a social stigma about ADHD drugs, that rich kids use them recreationally. But for me, this is a medical issue and I benefit from my treatment, and the improvements in my grades are exemplary of this.

College is the next step in my education, and I intend to pursue education/psychology in order that I can contribute to helping others like myself. There is still a lot of misunderstanding of ADHD, usually related to either cultural factors or to factors that have nothing to do with the disorder itself. In particular I want to be able to help Asian students who are facing this challenge, as there does not seem to be much in the way of resources to help. I struggled with ADHD for years until I got the help I needed, and that means that I have an opportunity to contribute to helping others in my situation, applying my understanding of Asian culture to the problems of ADHD in the education system.