With Percy Jackson gaining popularity thanks to its new Disney Plus series, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians”, it seems like an excellent time to take a look at what the series got right in its representation of ADHD and dyslexia.
Created by the original author Rick Riordan and showrunner Jonathan E. Steinberg, the series follows our protagonist, Percy, who has ADHD and dyslexia like most demigods. He is based on the author’s son, who never got to see heroes like himself. This is purposeful positive representation from an author who has a lot of second-hand experience and this is not the only example.
The show stars 15 year old Walker Scobell as Percy and features an ensemble cast including Jason Mantzoukas, Megan Mullally and Adam Copeland (better known as pro-wrestler Edge) among many others.
The reason they all have dyslexia is explained in the series as their brains being hard wired to read ancient Greek, so other languages are much harder to read. Interestingly, this is very close to truth! Dyslexia does not look the same across languages – you can have a lot of difficulty in one language but find others easy to read according to Neuroscience News in 2020.
The series also explains that demigods have ADHD as an adaptation – heightened senses on the battlefield and faster reflexes make them more likely to survive the dangerous life of a demigod. It is also described as a problem of seeing too much, not too little. This is much harder to say if it’s right or wrong simply because ADHD has a lot of variety in how it effects people. That being said, it can be described as noticing too much, not too little, because ADHD is less of a problem of inattention and more a problem of being distracted by other things competing for your attention. As for reaction times, a lot of studies find that people with ADHD tend to have slower reaction times with more variability (and this is usually explained as them getting distracted from the reaction time task). However, research into the variability of reaction times in people with ADHD seem to show that the reaction times are effected by energetic and motivational factors – reaction times speed up when the task is faster and more rewarding. So demigods on battlefields may be able to react faster because they noticed a monster earlier, but humans with ADHD tend to react slower.
Riordan’s experience parenting a kid with ADHD and dyslexia shows in Percy’s experience at school. At age 12 he’s been to “six schools in six years” and had been labelled a bad kid for incidents that felt out of his control, an experience that is unfortunately common for kids with ADHD. As most of the main cast has ADHD and dyslexia, we are shown a diverse array of how this can look and no-one has their personality reduced to just being representation.
Words from Actually Education Volunteer, Victor Tindle.
Below are references and useful articles used in Victor’s writing of this blog.
Reaction time performance in ADHD: Improvement under fast-incentive condition and familial effects.
Andreou, P., Neale, B. M., Chen, W., Christiansen, H., Gabriels, I., Heise, A., Meidad, S., Muller, U. C., Uebel, H., Banaschewski, T., Manor, I., Oades, R., Roeyers, H., Rothenberger, A., Sham, P., Steinhausen, H.-C., Asherson, P., & Kuntsi, J. (2007). Reaction time performance in ADHD: Improvement under fast-incentive condition and familial effects. Psychological Medicine, 37(12), 1703–1715. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291707000815
Examining predictors of reaction times in children with ADHD and normal controls
Epstein, J. N., Hwang, M. E., Antonini, T., Langberg, J. M., Altaye, M., & Arnold, L. E. (2010). Examining predictors of reaction times in children with ADHD and normal controls. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 16(1), 138–147. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355617709991111
Repertoires of ADHD in UK newspaper media
Horton-Salway, M. (2011). Repertoires of ADHD in UK newspaper media. Health, 15(5), 533–549. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459310389626
Why Are Some Bilingual People Dyslexic in English but Not Their Other Language?
Neuroscience News. (2020, October 9). Why Are Some Bilingual People Dyslexic in English but Not Their Other Language? Neuroscience News. https://neurosciencenews.com/bilingual-dyslexia-17144/
Woman with ADHD who sees her condition as ‘superpower’ speaks nine languages
O’Connell, E. (2022, January 18). Woman with ADHD who sees her condition as ‘superpower’ speaks nine languages. Metro. https://metro.co.uk/2022/01/18/woman-with-adhd-sees-it-as-superpower-and-now-speaks-nine-languages-15937703/
Reaction Time Variability in ADHD: A Review
Tamm, L., Narad, M. E., Antonini, T. N., O’Brien, K. M., Hawk, L. W., & Epstein, J. N. (2012). Reaction Time Variability in ADHD: A Review. Neurotherapeutics, 9(3), 500–508. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13311-012-0138-5