Disclaimer: I have no quarrel with the mods using the term in the creation of this community. I understand why they chose it, as even if they share my disagreement with the term when applied to ADHD, there’s not really a better inclusive term. “Mental illness” is really the only other option, and naming a community that would probably invite darker discussions that the mods might not be prepared to handle.
Another disclaimer: I think the term is perfectly valid when applied to autism, as autism is not, to the best of my knowledge, a mental illness so much as a difference in processing. Being autistic is only “bad” in the sense that our society discourages autistic traits. (Apologies if this is wrong; I’m neither autistic nor especially knowledgeable about autism.)
The term “neurodivergent” implies that there’s nothing wrong with you if you have ADHD–you’re just special and different. But my ADHD is an illness that requires treatment. A lot of people will tell you that the only reason ADHDers struggle is because society is set up wrong, but I don’t think that’s true, at least for me. Being unable to remember anything, unable to self-start, and hypersensitive to rejection would be massive problems in any world. Sure, the world today is particularly brutal for ADHDers in a way we could probably mitigate if we reorganized society to be kinder, but that doesn’t mean ADHD isn’t ultimately a disorder that some people need to treat with medication and therapy.
A lung transplant doesn’t cure CF, since CF has a ton of other effects than just the lung. A lung transplant only fixes the lung issues, but it does so in a quite unsustainable way, as you said yourself.
There’s a medication (Trikafta) that’s rightfully being called a miracle drug. For most CF mutations (there are ~2000 variants of CF mutations) Trikafta all but fixes CF. I know a guy who went from ~15% lung function to 60% within two weeks just from this drug alone.
My kid had Trikafta from two years old and has a lung function of ~120% (yes, better than a healthy kid of the same age).
There are a few genetic treatments in the works as well that should be even better.
Things are looking up, at least if you live in a country that has a decent health care system and doesn’t mind shelling out €350k per year and patient for the medication.