ADHD – An Excuse For Bad Behaviour & Lack Of Intelligence
I know I shouldn’t use this space to vent, but some of the rubbish I hear about ADHD boils my p*ss!
Earlier this year, I was featured in an article for the Telegraph about ADHD.
I was chuffed to have been approached after someone who had read my book SquarePegs – A Book Of Self Discovery For Women With ADHD recommended me.
The article talked a bit about my story and looked at the increase in diagnoses and the number of quick fixes, solutions and unqualified experts that are now cropping up.
They even sent a photographer (but didn’t use the pics. She took 100’s. I must have had my eyes open in one of them, surely!? ????)
Anyway, nice bit of PR. Happy days…
Until I decided to look at the comments, I know, I should have known better!
“Victims looking for a label to excuse laziness and bad behaviour.”
“Trying to get a diagnosis just to get money.”
“All the children I knew at my son’s school who had ADHD were just badly behaved children.”
“Neurodiverse’ is the latest buzzword. Used as an excuse for all sorts of bad behaviour and lack of intelligence.”
“ADHD and Autism didn’t exist when I was growing up in the sixties.”
WTF?
My world is pretty neurodiverse, I guess I have created an ADHD-friendly bubble.
Most of my clients have ADHD, several of my friends, some of my family and lots of my entrepreneurial peers. My newsfeed is full of ADHD anecdotes, descriptions, and inspiration.
I just wasn’t prepared that there would be so many bigoted views!
The comments made me realise how lucky I am to be part of a community of like-minded people who get it!
Who know that ADHD isn’t just a lack of focus or the odd CBA day (Can’t Be Arsed – in case you don’t have teens!)
And it isn’t about the latest trend or jumping on the bandwagon. This is something that has blighted us since birth.
From childhood through school, puberty and into adulthood.
Ramping up in the second half of our menstrual cycle, after childbirth then ready to hit a high during perimenopause.
It has affected our friendships, relationships, finances, parenting, businesses, health, and homes, but we carried on going.
And going and going!
Thinking it was a flaw in us.
Until now.
Now that we finally have an explanation and some answers to the self-doubt and questions that have gone around in our heads all those years, I, for one, will not be letting the opinions of uneducated people make me feel like it’s all in my head!
Owning my ADHD has changed my life and my business.
I no longer waste time trying to keep up, fit in or follow advice that doesn’t serve me.
I follow my own rules, doing life and business my way, and it’s going great guns!
Unfortunately, there are still many people who are not yet up to date with the advancements in neuroscience that have allowed a greater understanding of ADHD how un and misdiagnosed it is and how it can present differently in adults and females, and at different stages of life.
Getting an ADHD diagnosis isn’t about getting a label or having an excuse. It’s about finding an explanation and understanding how our brains work more effectively to work with it rather than try to fit into someone else’s ideals!
