What is ADHD?
Author Lucy and Jay | 4min read
Hello, we are Lucy and Jay from Mythically Minded and Divergent Diagnositcs! Happy Autistic Lady has invited us to write a post for ADHD Awareness month as AFAB two individuals with lived experience of ADHD.
Although we now have the whole month of October dedicated to celebrating and raising awareness of ADHD, originally it began as a single day of visibility in the US. As ADHD awareness began to gain traction as a movement and more people became involved it grew into an ADHD awareness week in multiple countries. Now it is a whole month of awareness that takes place around the world, this demonstrates how important visibility is for advocates and patients when it comes to educating people about, and celebrating life with, ADHD.
But what is ADHD?
ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperative Disorder. The NHS defines it as “a condition that affects people's behaviour. People with ADHD can seem restless, may have trouble concentrating and may act on impulse”. However, we all know that medical definitions are not the only way of describing neurodivergent conditions and they certainly don’t encompass all the ways it can manifest in real life.
What traits do ADHD people have?
The Royal College of Psychiatrists has a long list of examples of what behaviours can be considered ADHD traits in adults:
Problems organising including poor time management and unfinished projects
Erratic work or academic performance
Anger management problems
Problems maintaining long-term relationships with friends and family
Lack of routines causing poor sleeping patterns
Difficulty managing finances
Addictive behaviours like substance use, compulsive shopping or gambling
Frequent accidents either through recklessness or inattention
Low self-esteem or chronic under-achievement.
The list for ADHD traits required in children by the NHS to grant an early diagnosis is slightly different. For them the main signs of inattentiveness manifests as:
having a short attention span
making careless mistakes in schoolwork
appearing forgetful or losing things
being unable to stick to tasks that are tedious or time-consuming
appearing to be unable to listen to or carry out instructions
constantly changing activity or task
having difficulty organising tasks
Whereas the main signs of hyperactivity and impulsiveness are:
being unable to sit still, especially in calm or quiet surroundings
being unable to concentrate on tasks
excessive physical movement
excessive talking
being unable to wait their turn
acting without thinking
interrupting conversations
little or no sense of danger
These traits are more commonly seen in assigned male at birth (AMAB) children, which is due to the majority of ADHD research documenting and assessing case studies of these individuals. This leads to many assigned female at birth (AFAB) children with ADHD going undiagnosed or struggling to get an official diagnosis. The problems with ADHD diagnosis also have a racial element with many black feminine presenting or assigned female at birth people being underdiagnosed, this is called the racial health gap in ADHD diagnosis.
The gaps in diagnosis relate to stereotypical behaviours expected of people that are rooted in biassed assumptions of how neurodivergence medically manifests and the normalisation of assuming behaviours as belonging to different groups of people. Around 2.6 million people in the UK are currently diagnosed with ADHD, but the suspected number of people who have the condition is much higher. This gap between diagnosed and undiagnosed individuals is largely due to the lack of an inclusive non-biased diagnostic criteria.
What support is out there?
As two AFAB individuals we have been unable to achieve an official diagnosis, but have been told we exhibit a lot of the behavioural traits associated with ADHD individuals by healthcare professionals. The reason for lack of diagnosis is partly due to the very long wait-time to get officially assessed, the average is 7 months, although it is often longer, as there are 150 referrals a day according to Psychiatry UK. Unfortunately, without an official diagnosis it is difficult to access medical support, primarily medication to help manage the condition. This is not helped by the recent shortage in ADHD medication across the UK. Increased global demand and manufacturing problems have meant that many people who take medication for their ADHD have been unable to access a key component of their self-management strategy. Due to all of the above problems with getting the right medical care or being able to access medication, ADHD people have been relying on other forms of self-management to help themselves.
There are many organisations, and people with ADHD, that have come up with helpful ‘life hacks that people living with ADHD can implement in order to tackle a lot of the daily management difficulties that can come with the condition. Helpguide.org states that a big myth is that ‘medication is the only way to solve my ADHD’ and some of these helpful sources demonstrate that a combination of making daily tasks accessible and medication work together make a person’s life with ADHD more manageable in highly demanding environments. Check out these sources to see hints and tips for organising your professional life, managing your financial commitments, sleeping schedules, impulsivity management, and more from Frida, ADDitude, and Helpguide.org.
Life with ADHD is different, but that doesn’t make it abnormal or bad. Individuals with ADHD can often be stereotyped as bad friends, unprofessional work colleagues, and unstable partners. This is absolutely not the case. ADHD people are different, they require different, more tailored needs in the workplace, the home space, and with friendships. The above help guides and suggested exercises to improve personal and professional management are useful, but it is also important that colleagues, close friends, and family stay open minded and adjust to meet the needs of their ADHD loved ones or colleagues halfway. We live in a world where society is disabling, not the individual, and both society and the individual have to change to make the world a better place for everyone.
Happy awareness month from us and Happy Autistic Lady,
Mythically Minded.
