Sadly, some end up with lower-level qualifications despite having wasted talents. Some are frustrated at not achieving what they see now as their potential. I have had many females feel both relieved and at the same time angry at gaining a diagnosis in adulthood. It can include a sense of never quite fitting in. Past challenges can result in difficulties progressing in education and socially. Their diagnosis was missed altogether or considered as something else. Cycles of burnout, with challenges with sleep, may have been their norm. For some arriving at adulthood, it can mean having years of constant feelings of anxiety and for many being or having been depressed. But there are many girls and females who still haven’t had their support needs recognized and continue to have challenges in day-to-day life. Increasing awareness of neurodiversity means there are females self-diagnosing one or more conditions in adulthood. The term neurodiversity recognizes diverse and varying brains and it is becoming associated with both positive traits and characteristics associated in some people with Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder/condition (ASD/C), Developmental Coordination Disorder/Dyspraxia, and Developmental Language Disorder as well as specific challenges that some people may have. Many of us are emerging now at different stages of our lives, and some are looking back and thinking how much easier could it have been if I had known…. I think this is why I prefer to be lecturing as I am the one doing something and can move around.Īs the chair of the ADHD Foundation, I feel passionate about raising awareness of ADHD and neurodiversity in all sectors of society but especially in females as so many girls have been completely missed in childhood. The thought of sitting still doing only one thing is hard for me. If I am watching TV, I often do something else at the same time like being on my laptop writing something while listening to it in the background. If I am listening to a lecture, I need to make notes or doodle at the same time. I find it very hard to do one thing only. till in my 60s… despite diagnosing and recognizing it in others.Īdults talk about feelings of ‘inner restlessness’, and I find this is very real for me. I look back and think now was that about inefficiency, or uncertainty about being good enough? I have always had ‘imposter syndrome’ and never really believing I was good enough even when I won awards from others… I always thought it was not for me! I never thought that I had ADHD…. As a student, I put in endless hours when others were ‘playing’. I also seemed to work much harder than others to achieve what others seemed to do with less effort. I was anxious and a ruminator and had a ‘busy brain’ that often ended up trying lots of different hobbies because I was curious but gave them up if they bored me. I was chatty, enthusiastic, and impulsively volunteered to help with everything. I was fidgety, a doodler, but not disruptive. Despite having a number of ADHD traits myself this was not considered as a child at all. I am very interested in this topic, as I have a number of family members with diagnoses of ADHD. Prof Amanda Kirby CEO of Do-It Profiler, GP & Chair of the ADHD Foundation
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