Summer program application for Juniors with ADHD

My child is a junior in high school. He is very interested in SIMR, Stanford Institute of Medicine Summer Research Program.

While reading through the Mission Statement, which I pasted below, I thought of a question about the student with disabilities that they encourage to apply. Would students with a learning disability such as ADHD be considered an individual with disabilities? My child is doing reasonably well at school and with his extracurricular activities. However, he does have to put in a lot more effort than students without disabilities.

"An important goal of SIMR is to select a class of students whose individual and collective education will benefit from a diverse student body, broadly defined. Although any student is welcome to apply, SIMR will focus on creating opportunities for local Northern California students. We especially encourage students to apply who are from groups that are under-represented in the United States biomedical research workforce, including (but not limited to) students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, students who will be first generation college students, ethnic minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities. "

Yes, I think that counts and you should mention it. They can decide what to do with the information.

Thank you!

I’m not quite sure what they will do with that information. As i understand, people try not to mention ADHD in their college application. So I don’t know if mentioning ADHD will hurt his chance of acceptance.

I would only mention the ADHD if it somehow impacts your child’s worldview and gives them insight. Have they made efforts to improve the community with adaptations, communication, or building alliances?

It will be hard. He spent a lot more time
On homework and EC while trying to overcome the challenges associated with ADHD. He is also a varsity athlete and plays club team. Very little time is left for any other advocacy or alliance work.

These days, we hear people talk a lot about diversity, equity, and inclusion. It sounds like neurodiversity is not really considered or included. If it takes more effort to work with a neurodiverse student, let’s not bother. However, there are so many more opportunities offered to students with socialeconomic diversity.

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