The Ancient Mariner Speaks: Examining Regimes of Truth in ADHD

The number of children labelled ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) has been on the increase since the term entered common medical parlance thirty years ago. Through a deeply personal narrative and an analysis of Michel Foucault’s theories on truth, power and knowledge, The Ancient Mariner Speaks argues that the ADHD label has contributed to the pathologizing of children’s, particularly boys’, behaviour and the further marginalization and exclusion, rather than inclusion, of students in the classroom.