What connotations does the word disorder have for a native speaker? Does it sound very negative or rather neutral?
It's still better to describe phenomena such as ADHD as mental illness, but it still sounds too negative to me.
Learn English – What are the connotations of the word ‘disorder’ for a native speaker
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Best Answer
It depends significantly on the context.
In terms of ADD and ADHD, the fact that they are abbreviations generally removes any connotation that disorder may hold because ADD and ADHD are very common terms that people have tended to directly associate with the condition in question.
If, however, disorder were to be spelled out in terms of a clinical diagnosis, there might be a small negative connotation, but generally speaking, I do not think it would be very significant.
On the other hand, if you were to say he has a mental disorder, that is very negative and might well be considered to be bordering on rude.