ADHD in the attention economy: reasonable accommodations

The text analyzes the impact of the environment on the functioning of people with ADHD, shifting the focus from a medical model of the disorder to institutional design. The author argues that appropriate modifications—such as noise-canceling headphones, written instructions, or flexible working hours—are not privileges but reasonable accommodations that reduce the "friction" between the individual and their surroundings. A key principle is the separation of substantive competence from the testing of executive functions (e.g., working memory) that are not the objective of the task. The article places these demands within a legal context, citing EU directives and Polish vocational rehabilitation regulations, emphasizing that equality of access to education and employment requires differentiating procedures to achieve the same outcomes.