Author: trex

8 apps to thrive as a person with ADHD

8 apps to thrive as a person with ADHD

Posted on | by trex

Written by Eliott Hamilton, Student Informatician

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) affects about 10 million adults. While ADHD comes with many strengths like creative thinking and the ability to hyperfocus on a task, it also leaves many people struggling to navigate a world that was not made for them. 

People with ADHD often struggle to manage time, start or complete tasks, or stay organized. This can affect all areas of life from work and school to relationships and mental health.

Navigating these challenges is frustrating and overwhelming for many people with ADHD and conventional approaches to overcoming these obstacles might not meet the needs of everyone. Smartphone apps can help bridge those gaps. Whether it’s managing tasks or practicing mindfulness, these digital allies can be invaluable in fostering productivity and personal growth.

Note: Apps can be helpful for getting work, chores, homework, and other to-dos done on a daily basis; however, they are not meant to replace help from a mental health care professional.

8 apps to thrive as a person with ADHD

Planta

  • Who it’s best for: Plant lovers who struggle with consistent care routines
  • iOS rating: 4.8
  • Android rating: 4.3
  • Price: 1 month Premium Plant Care for $7.99 or 12 months for $35.99

Planta is a personalized reference tool for creating and tracking plant care routines. Users input their plants to get notifications when it’s time to water, fertilize, and re-pot each plant. Planta includes a photo-based identification tool, a light meter to test light levels in each room, and a diagnosis feature for struggling plants. Planta is a useful tool for those who struggle with object permanence or task management and can help plant parents keep their plants happy and healthy. 

Calm

  • Who it’s best for: People who want to improve their mental health by focusing on mindfulness and minimizing stress
  • iOS rating: 4.8
  • Android rating: 4.4
  • Price: The Calm app is free to download; however, most content is through the paid subscription at $14.99/month or $69.99/year.

People with ADHD tend to experience increased stress levels and burnout. Mindfulness is a powerful tool for mitigating these challenges and promoting self-growth. Calm is a mental health resource that promotes sleep, meditation, and relaxation as tools to live stress-free. Calm offers mindfulness exercises through guided meditations, video lessons on gentle movement, and sessions supporting recovery from burnout. Calm also includes tailored soundscapes and music to support focus, relaxation, or restful sleep. 

Headspace

  • Who it’s best for: People who want science-backed material covering a wide range of mental health topics
  • iOS rating: 4.8
  • Android rating: 4.5
  • Price: Annual: $69.99/year | Monthly: $12.99/month

Headspace is another mindfulness tool designed to provide accessible mental health support. Headspace’s science-based guided meditations, mindfulness exercises, and mental health coaching tools are all designed and facilitated by a team of counselors, psychologists, and social workers. Headspace offers resources to handle a wide range of mental health challenges and to build lasting habits.

Obsidian

  • Who it’s best for: Visual thinkers and learners
  • iOS rating: 4.6
  • Android rating: 4.0
  • Price: free for personal use

Many people with ADHD are visual thinkers and learners who often struggle with traditional note-taking methods that lack visual connections across topics and note sections. Obsidian is a writing app that can be customized for various types of writing, including journaling, note-taking, and project management. Files are stored locally to promote privacy and are non-proprietory, so notes can be accessed outside of the Obsidian app. Users can also create links between notes for easy reference, build diagrams and charts directly onto a text file, and view the connections between linked files in an interactive graph, making it great for anyone who struggles with note organization or forgetfulness.

Habitica

  • Who it’s best for: Game-lovers who want to improve habits or increase productivity when completing tasks
  • iOS rating: 4.0
  • Android rating: 3.8
  • Price: Premium subscription available: $4.99/month | $14.99/three months | $29.99/six months | $47.99/year

Many people with ADHD struggle to maintain adequate dopamine levels, making task management a constant struggle. Habitica is a role-playing game that transforms completing everyday tasks into a dopamine-rich experience by turning them into a game to support habit-building. Users create an avatar, input daily tasks, habits, or to-do lists, then fight to conquer the task “monsters.” Completing tasks gains users in-game rewards to customize and buff their avatars. Habitica also offers a social productivity feature, allowing friends to hold each other responsible or take on monsters in “super accountability mode” where individual users’ activity affect the group as a whole.

Remember the Milk

  • Who it’s best for: Anyone who wants to keep multiple lists in one place
  • iOS rating: 4.7
  • Android rating: 4.4
  • Price: free accounts available; Pro Version available for $49.99/year.

ADHD frequently involves difficulties with memory and object permanence. Maintaining a well-organized list can help overcome these challenges and ensuring nothing is overlooked. Remember The Milk is a shareable, multi-list task-organizer that can sync across devices and calendars. Tasks can be added with due dates, priority rankings, future repetitions, and tags to better support detailed organization. Users can customize notifications to send through email, text, and various mobile apps and delegate by sharing tasks and lists with others. Remember The Milk also includes options for subtasks, breaking down the big tasks into manageable chunks.

Key Ring

  • Who it’s best for: Savings lovers and loyalty card collectors
  • iOS rating: 4.5
  • Android rating: 3.5
  • Price: Free

Many people with ADHD are familiar with the dreaded “ADHD tax,” referring to the financial challenges often paired with ADHD. Key Ring is designed to manage all shopping tools in one place. Users can add loyalty and membership cards without the bulk of physical cards. Key Ring also includes a search function to find local deals. Users can save favorite items and be notified when new sales start.

Clarify ADHD

  • Who it’s best for: People who want to reframe their mindset to view ADHD as a strength and learn to work with their ADHD rather than against it
  • iOS rating: 4.4
  • Android rating: 4.1
  • Price: $40/year for Premium

Clarify introduces thoughtful features designed to nurture the strengths of ADHD minds, shifting the focus from overcoming challenges to promoting inherent capabilities. Clarify is a support app designed for those with ADHD offering personalized strategies for time management, overcoming task avoidance, and maximizing productivity. Clarify guides users in daily, centering activities and in creating immersive to-do lists that fuel focus throughout the day. It features a Deep Work Room where tasks are approached one at a time with a visual timer and ambient music to occupy your phone and promote hyperfocus to achieve tasks. Clarify offers 2-minute audio coaching sessions that highlight the benefits of ADHD, reframing it as a positive asset.

Navigating the world with ADHD can be frustrating, overwhelming, and isolating. While work, school, and extracurricular schedules may not be created with neurodivergence in mind, it is still possible to thrive in all areas by working with ADHD. Embracing a digital toolkit empowers individuals with ADHD to create a personalized approach to their daily lives and highlight the valuable assets that come with neurodivergent thinking and identity. 

For more information and resources on ADHD, visit www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/index.html or www.chadd.org. 

10 Ways being an Artist Makes You More Employable

Posted on | by trex

Written by Bailey Patterson, Student Informatician

Experience in the arts hones a valuable skill set when it comes to employability across all markets. Artists are a fountain of talent and discipline, with applications from the healthcare industry, to marketing, to social services, and everything in between. In addition, artists make for great collaborators when designing accessible spaces across many contexts. Here are ten reasons why experience in arts translates into high employability: 

1. Creativity

The ability to “think outside the box” is invaluable in the workplace. Minds driven by artistic backgrounds are able to approach complex situations from new perspectives and create innovative solutions. This translates well into today’s “innovation economy”. Artists are the people you want to think about problems and generate new ideas. Creativity like this is invaluable in the context of creating accessible solutions. 

2. Adaptability

Any artist you meet is likely proficient in more than one skill. Artists sometimes face challenges caused by uncertainty, and are able to pivot their direction and make unexpected situations work for them. 

3. Resourcefulness 

Have you ever seen a beautiful visual artwork created by crushed can or newspaper clippings? Were you amazed at how someone saw something considered by many to be garbage and created meaning out of it? Artists of all varieties are skilled at using what they have and making the most out of it. They can stretch resources and create pathways from situations others might struggle to find any use for. This ability to imagine beyond the typical works well in situations where innovation is needed to create more accessible designs. 

4. Eye for the Aesthetic

Every business wants a product that is pleasing to the senses. Creating visual, auditory, or other interest is part of what makes products or services memorable. Artists are already accustomed to striving for stylistic excellence and will bring in a creative direction that improves the value of the entire business. 

5. Respectful of Others’ Time 

Many artists, regardless of discipline, are familiar with working with deadlines and schedules. Art is often team-based, and being punctual is a sign of respect for a colleagues’ time and dedication to the overall quality of the product. 

A young woman with headphones lowered to her neck sits on a blanket in a grassy outdoor space. She turns the page of a book and looks upward while contemplating. 

6. Self-Motivation

Artists are driven by the desire to create. Often, they are creating works that start from nothing but an idea. For this reason, artists are self-driven workers. They envision a goal and regulate their own progress toward it. This means they are excellent leaders when it comes to completing projects and can be trusted to “get the job done”, whatever it may include.  

7. Team Player

Every art form, on some level, is a team effort. Artists are well-versed in collaboratively using skills to create the best product. They understand their own strengths and can fit efficiently into any group. They have appreciation for teammates and understand that great outcomes require great teamwork. 

8. Interpersonal Communication 

If you have ever spent time with artists, you will discover that they are often deeply thoughtful about other people. Whether they are introverted or extroverted, artists are fascinated by the human condition and have a thorough understanding of themselves and compassion for those around them. These qualities enhance their ability to build rapport with a variety of people. This ability to facilitate communication translates well into the creation of Universal Design features because it means the artist at hand has the skills they need to understand what issues their collaborators are bringing to the table. 

9. Public Speaking

Artists are no stranger to public speaking. Many fields within the arts require a person to present their ideas or talents in front of diverse types of audiences. Artists have experience demonstrating  this skill and can communicate critical ideas that best represent their organization in front of a variety of people. Artists adept in public speaking can “read a crowd” and tune their presentation to the needs of the listener be highly effective communicators. 

10. Boldness

The arts is a fast paced and competitive field. Criticism is at the heart of how artists improve skills. This also invites risk taking and bold ideas. For this reason, people with backgrounds in the arts will be courageous in their work and handle criticism with grace and introspection. 

A group of people sit at a table in a bright office space. A few members of the group are in conversation while the others listen. 

All of these reasons demonstrate the potential that people with artistic skills bring to the table in the workplace, but let’s take it even further! Considering arts in employment becomes especially important when it comes to accessibility. In the world of business, it is important to prioritize the access needs of everyone who may come in contact with your operation. For this reason, Universal Design in all facets of work is a must! Universal Design is a goal that is reached through the hard work of teams of individuals. Artists and designers are some of the most important collaborators for ensuring accessibility is built into the fabric of the work being done across many different contexts. 

With all of this in mind, it’s clear to see that people with experience in the arts should not be overlooked in employment. Furthermore, honing one’s skills in the arts translates to employability today in many energizing ways. Universal Design and Accessibility practices are a must in the workplace, and artists are people who can help get you there. Employers should consider artists and their skills as potential they can tap into and encourage employees to explore their creative side. 

Overhead shot interior of the student center big steps

Many People, One Community at the University of Kentucky

Posted on | by trex

Inclusive excellence at the University of Kentucky continues to be a priority in colleges, units and departments across the community. This site highlights and celebrates all of the inclusivity work happening in our community initiated and driven by passionate staff, faculty and students. Here, you can learn more about the various initiatives, read about diversity-related news and efforts from all areas of the UK community and find a comprehensive list of resources and organizations that promote belonging.

Visit https://mpoc.uky.edu for more information.

Two women in a room sitting at a table

Community Health Workers make connections across Kentucky

Posted on | by trex

Community Health Workers (CHWs) are front-line workers that serve as the bridge between our communities and the healthcare system. CHWs work across our state to achieve their role as connectors. With the goal of increasing the capacity of CHWs to support Kentuckians with disabilities, the Human Development Institute (HDI) has partnered with the Kentucky Office of Community Health Workers (KOCHW) to provide a series of trainings and interactive workshops on Universal Design (UD).*

 The statewide trainings were the result of lessons learned from previously hosted listening sessions. Insight from CHWs helped identify areas of need and allowed HDI to develop CHW-focused training on various disability and health topics. Training includes Disability 101, Disability and Health Resources, UD in Community Health Work, and Guardianship and Supported Decision-Making. HDI created the regional workshops to reinforce the inclusive principles of UD and empower CHWs to implement their learned inclusion strategies.

The workshops are hosted with KYOCHW’s regional meetings and engage CHWs to apply UD strategies to health messages, programming, and environments. The universally designed workshops feature numerous interactive activities focused on engaging participants to apply strategies to maximize accessibility and inclusion.

Workshop activities include:  

  • Jeopardy: Review content from previous trainings with a trivia styled game.
  • Role-play: Use supported decision-making to act out different community scenarios.
  • UD Redesign: Small groups work together to apply UD strategies to provide examples of inaccessible materials.
  • Social Media: After learning about the importance of UD and accessibility on social media, write alt text and image descriptions.
  • Adapted Physical Activity: Identify ways to modify exercises to be inclusive of the different ways people move their bodies.
  • Kitchen Equipment Demo: Try out different adaptive kitchen equipment that help empower individuals to prepare their own healthy food.

Strategically developed to promote the real-world application of UD by CHWs, the interactive experience from the workshops has been met with enthusiasm from KYOCHW and CHWs across the state. One participant noted, “I learned a lot about how to present information in different ways so that everyone is able to understand and have access.”  Many attendees have affirmed they will use UD to better communicate with their clients. One participant said they will share the experience from the workshop with their staff and encourage “them to follow this structure for work they are doing with clients.”

The four workshops have hosted over 120 CHWs from across the state.  Two workshops were held in western Kentucky at Kenlake State Resort Park and Barren River State Resort Park. The central regional meeting, which included CHWs from Lexington, Louisville, Frankfort, and beyond, was hosted at the Kentucky Historical Society. HDI staff joined KYOCHW in eastern Kentucky on August 24th (Pine Mountain) and will meet again for the final regional meeting on November 2nd (Jenny Wiley). If you are interested in attending a workshop, please contact the Kentucky Office of Community Health Workers.

* UD is Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning.

Voice bubble reading Take the Survey

HDI is Seeking Your Input for Our Five Year Plan

Posted on | by trex

The University of Kentucky Human Development Institute wants your feedback to improve our work. Every five years we write a new plan that guides what we do in our role as a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities.

We’ve put together a survey for you to tell us what we need to work on for the next five years about life in Kentucky for people with disabilities. How could it be better? What needs to change about education and employment, healthcare, housing, and transportation, advocacy, policy, and community support?

We need to hear from you. Please complete our 15 minute survey at: https://uky.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8tXsCRIEoRfNYeq

We’ll use your feedback in several important ways:

  1. Your feedback will be kept private. We will not share feedback or other information that could identify you.
  2. We will use all feedback received before February 2023 as we write our new plan.
  3. We will share a summary of what we learned on our website later this Spring.

At the end of the survey you can enter a raffle for one of multiple $20 gift cards.

If you would like support to complete this survey, email me at: kjone@uky.edu or cal 859-257-8104.