Laura Jewell
ENG-105
07-13-2014
Rebecca Foy

The rhetorical analysis of the CDC’s website on ADHD. The CDC is a government funded organization, but they do not share enough information with the public, so we can be proactive in dealing with, or minimizing the negative effects of ADHD. The CDC is not sharing information that would help the public to understand, to minimize the questions being asked, and to what depths or severity ADHD is, or could be. Some of the public may not fully understand the context of the issues pertaining to ADHD, what the CDC’s actual credibility is, and to whom they are trying to impart their knowledge. When a young child is sick, we take them to the doctor. What if we do not know they are sick, what then? That’s where the CDC gets involved with ADHD, but what do we really know about the disease, other than its generally found in children, and that it is an issue in their neurodevelopment. Children today are being diagnosed with ADHD. According to the CDC it is not ok, but the way to fix it seems to be, to medicate the child or teen, so the symptoms become less apparent. Does that really help? One of the issues with medicating could be, the child does not develop emotionally, and or socially, in an appropriate way. Is this safe for the kids, or is the CDC trying to keep ADHD under control, like they successfully have done with malaria, and leprosy (not actually creating a cure like with polio, or the possibility of a surgical fix). The CDC has cured many things, but, they are the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, so we have to keep that in mind. The CDC says that they are here for the public, but if you take a second look at their site, it is meant more for health care professionals, not the average citizen. For example, the word neurodevelopment is used. Most of the public knows that means something in the