It looks like a pretty general overview but not a bad one. It’s nice they talk about some of the less known things about ADHD and don’t dismiss it outright as a disability. While my ADHD is often annoying (losing stuff, forgetting things, etc), it’s also a superpower sometimes, like when I wrote a program my boss’ boss thought would need a project and staff and at minimum several months to complete in one day of sublime hyperfocus. Took a few weeks to polish, mind you, but yeah that was a fun day.
Nice to see the distinction between typical presentation for male/female. One of my sources of gender euphoria is that my ADHD is inattentive type which is much more common in women and girls, and I also got the fun of not having it diagnosed until my 40s which really makes me feel like a woman
Some of the described symptoms of ADHD fit me so hard, even back when I was a kid. (Time blindness, keeping time with music or TV shows? Check. Hyperfocusing so hard I lose time, getting nearly obsessed with subjects or hobbies only to suddenly, mysteriously lose interest? Check. Inability to plan for the future? Big check. Executive dysfunction? Difficulty maintaining relationships? Check and check.)
It’s only in the last few years that I found out details about ADHD (through social media and listening to others decribe their experiences), and started to connect the dots… and I’m 52. I’m a woman, and was always a good student (an overachiever, really, once I realized “hey, I’m good at this and people like it”) and a hard worker, so I think it just kinda… slipped through the cracks. It’s been harder the last few years, since I went through menopause, which also checks. I’ve got at least one cousin with ADHD (and another who’s autistic), so the genetic potential’s there too.
I’m not sure what to do next, since I don’t currently have health insurance (I’m considering asking my local nurse-practitioner if she can recommend something)… but it’s a kind of comfort to know that there might be a reason why I am the way I am, and to know there are strategies that might help me get more things done.
And I’m honestly not sure if I can truly, reasonably claim to be neurodivergent because I’m not formally diagnosed… but the more I find out, the more it seems to fit me.
Most people (I believe) just look at the traits, and go “yeah, no. I’m not that.” and continue with their lives.
The rest of us tend to be more “I’m not like that. I’m not like that. I’m not like that, there are other, perfectly normal reasons why I am like I am, but it’s not that. It’s probably definitely not that. Definitely. Isn’t it? I mean, what if it were? What would it look like if it was? What if? It’s probably not. I don’t think it’s enough to get checked out. I mean, it’s probably normal. I’m sure it’s normal. Maybe I should get it checked. I should probably get it checked, even though it’s not really serious. … … … Wait, what do you mean ‘Level 2’? I… huh.”
A normal stage of the process is “I have suspicions, but I don’t think I can claim to be…”. People who definitely aren’t tend to get off that track long, long before that stage.
When I was first at the “what would it take to get looked at?” stage, the local official Autism support group had a page which stated “if you think you might be autistic, you probably are”, which struck me at the time as profoundly unhelpful.
Looking back on it, they just failed to put it in its correct context: Worrying about whether or not you are neurodivergent may as well be, of itself, a symptom of neurodivergence. People who definitely aren’t don’t tend to even ask the question, much less obsess over it.
I got that same kind of backhanded validation from finding out about that too. “Of course that child psychologist didn’t diagnose me, everyone thought i was a boy and I’ve always had the inattentive traits.”
I’m not sure how a fashion and lifestyle mag for teens has done it. But Teen Vogue is doing some of the most important and insightful news in the US right now.
Edit to add: and they have been for a few years now! I don’t visit the sit often, maybe once a month, but I always learn something when I visit
Cannot tell you how often i see kids for “ADHD” or behavioral issues who are really, really bright and just bored. Our schools (USAian) are not set up for kids who deviate from the norm. I used to say they only cared about C students, but with grade inflation, can’t really do that anymore. Any kid who is outside the “norm” will lead to challenges and additional work or expense to accommodate, and that applies to TAG kids as much as SPED. And even moreso considering these kids are more likely to directly challenge teachers and be right. Around here, at least, them being correct is treated as a greater issue than being disrespectful. Teachers must be unquestioningly obeyed, and proving them wrong can lead to truly draconian punishments. Unfortunately, these kids are also almost impossible to homeschool, because no one person is likely to have the ability to keep them engaged. It can be horribly tragic to watch the potential go up in smoke, but it happens all too frequently.
I’ve never heard of read of any person with autism speak well of Autism Speaks. That was enough for me to write them off. But the more I learn, the worse I learn they are.
Back in the far before time, I was a frequent commentor at Autism Speaks, regarding the vaccine wars. That was the first place that someone doxed me and threatened to come to my office to “shut us down.” Never happened, of course. Keyboard warriors and all, but yeah, the fact that this was tolerated at the time was enough to convince me that these were not good people.
This was my experience. I have ADHD (inattentive type) and probably autism. I was able to get through high school with minimum effort so I never learned how to actually deal with my issues with focus and maintenance of interest until I got to university. And I almost crashed and burned when I got there.
The funny thing for me was that the regimented and controlled environment of primary/secondary schooling chafed at me so much that I thought I hated education, despite loving learning. Then I got to university and the environment was much more lax - no one cared if I showed up or not, professors were usually willing to work with me to accommodate issues I was having, and I had a lot more leeway to pick interesting classes - and I thrived there. Once I was doing it for myself and not because others were telling me I had to, I found it a lot easier.
Traditional education fails kids who aren’t neurotypical. I have a lot of trauma issues that stem back to school being a round hole to my square peg, and now I’m watching it do it again to my kids, both of whom are neurodivergent. It sucks.
The Daily Tism News lands on Monday! Tell everybody!
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Thank you, I needed to hear that.
