I'm coming in here as a 19 year old, so I've grown up with a lot with all these different conditions.
Firstly - yes, ADHD is an overused term. About half the people I've known in school with it had never been diagnosed, their parents had labeled them with it. Sorry, but it happens a fair bit nowadays. Which is bad for those kids, and is bad for the people genuinely with it.
I've also known a couple with very severe ADHD. And if you met them briefly, most of the people in this thread would judge them as badly behaved kids. It isn't until you've spent more time with them it becomes apparent just how different it is than it appears at first glance, even in people with severe forms. You have to understand though, it isn't just something that makes a kid shout or have a tamtrum, it's something with a major impact on every aspect of their life.
I've also known a few people with dyslexia and other such conditions that have been labeled on this thread as excuses. Tell me this, why would these kids suddenly become a lot better with certain coloured paper in some cases and such? I think a lot of the misunderstandings on this come from the idea that it's an excuse to be thick. How many people realise Pierre Curie was dyslexic? How about John Lennon, Winston Churchill, JFK?
Oh and John Lennon also had ADHD. It's pretty well known that Albert Einstein was considered to have both ADHD and dyslexia.
And and err, none of those were born in the last 15 years when it's apparently "appeared". You know, in case any of you aren't up on your history
I have to say it concerns me that so many people still don't realise these things actually exist. I'm by no means saying that some people don't wrongly abuse the labels, but people have also lied saying themselves or their children have cancer, yet I've never heard anyone suggesting that is a new fangled, made up illness. Some people lying about an illness doesn't make it all non-existent.