My ADHD flew under the radar—until I had kids. By EABroadbent
, include a failure to “give close attention to details” and making “careless mistakes.” Those who live with it “do not seem to listen when spoken to,” can’t follow directions well, “have difficulty organizing tasks,” lose necessary things, and find themselves “easily distracted.”
I bubbled in a questionnaire for my doctor. When I finished, I cried. I’d coloured in a whole life. “I think you have ADHD,” my doctor told me gently. I cried harder, because life suddenly made sense. Social skills baffled me—kids with ADHD, explains the non-profitoften never learn how to properly interact with others. That requires attention, impulse control and responsibility, things kids with ADHD lack: we tend to be inattentive, impulsive, and forgetful.
. “Of course it’s hard for you to make friends,” someone once told me. “You’re just so different.” I’d spent a life convinced something was deeply wrong with me, something unfixable. I thought I’d never have real friends, friends I kept over the long term. But my ADHD diagnosis explained all of that—from why I constantly lost pacis to why I felt rejected all the time. My doctor started me on Adderall, and with some work on my part, it changed everything. It wasn’t a magic pill. I had to learn to remember important parts of life, from packing my diaper bag to cleaning my car. IPeople have a lot ofI develop obsessions easily—think crocheting or baking—and drop them just as easily.
But now I understand why. While there’s some things I work on changing , it’s much easier to understand and accept myself as I am. I’m neurodiverse. In a world built for people whose brains work one way,I’m different. But different isn’t bad.Subscribe to Today's Parent's daily newsletter for our best parenting news, tips, essays and recipes.
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