Why it’s a problem: There is so much wrong in this advice column, not just the ableism, that I don’t even know where to begin.

But we can address some of the ableism, for starters, which includes the letter writer dismissively labeling their partner as an “anti-psych-drugs, anti-big-pharma leftist,” yet continuing to pressure him to get diagnosed, thereby not respecting his values or boundaries.

And then there is this line: “I was diagnosed with ADHD, and I love to talk about it all the time, since getting diagnosed as an adult is not that typical and really helped me become a Real Person.” So people with untreated or undiagnosed conditions are subhuman? We can certainly argue philosophically about whether medications can help individuals become their “true selves,” but an individual’s humanity and wholeness is never questionable, “disordered” or not.

Perhaps the most egregious part of the columnist’s “advice” is how it disregards the fact that the letter writer was giving ADHD medications, which are a Schedule II controlled substance with a high risk of causing dependence, to their partner, who has neither been diagnosed nor received a prescription from a doctor. That the partner now steals those medications is concerning. That the advice columnist, Emily Gould, doesn’t address the harm that the letter writer’s behavior has caused is mind boggling. Gould acknowledges the letter writer as an “enabler,” but what the person has actually done in this case is so much worse than that.

Source: New York Magazine