Group Influences On Personal Identity

My identity as a student was influenced by many different group memberships. Race, socio-economic status, and special needs were three that affected my identity the most. Coming from a Guyanese family, being a part of the upper class and having ADHD was very hard to deal with. People had all different expectations about me, and they noticed it from interacting with me as well as over time. These expectations affected me, but also made me a better person in the long run. Having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder known as ADHD, it was very hard to keep focus. My parents knew about it, but my peers, teachers never knew until a teacher called me out on it one day during class. He put me on the spot during a lesson and I had to choice but to tell him because it was affecting me in class, on my grades. I would never forget that day because after the teacher found out, I could hear students in my class laugh and make fun of me. My peers would come up to me and ask, “ I didn’t know you’re retarded?” At first, it was affecting me very much to the point where I didn’t want to go back to school. I felt like someone who I know I wasn’t. After a few months and some professional help, I was back to myself. I didn’t let those harsh words affect me, and those negative …show more content…
My friend’s expectations about me was because my family was wealthy, everything was handed to me. I was a rich boy, I didn’t have to work, and whatever I wanted like materialistic things would be given to me as soon as I wanted it. The things they would say never affect me, and their expectations about me was not true at all. They didn’t know I work really hard at my family business, twelve to thirteen hours of physical labor everyday. All these nice fancy things I have I worked for it, and I am very humble about it as well. Interacting with people and them seeing the way I talk, dress, etc, their expectations about me changed very