ADHD Stories

I am an adult woman who was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 25. My entire life, I felt like I wasn’t doing enough. But when I tried harder in one area in my life, another area would suffer. Finally, my partner (who also has ADHD) suggested I get tested. I was initially reluctant – … Read more

When I first got diagnosed with ADHD, I actually thought I was useless to society. Once starting in my current profession, I learned that my ADHD is a useful tool. We do a sort of processing at my job, and the work is very repetitive. Where my ADHD causes me to hyperfocus on tasks that … Read more

I’ve talked to many people who were hesitant about exploring an ADHD diagnosis. They didn’t want the label that comes with it but what they didn’t understand is that when you avoid one label, worse ones take their place. Growing up with undiagnosed ADHD I was labelled as being ‘lazy’, ‘unmotivated’, ‘abnormal’, to name a … Read more

My mother and I cried when I was diagnosed. Her, because she had punished me my whole life for “not trying”, being hyper, etc. Me, relief; I had tried, wish I could tell all my tutors, teachers of every course tried. I’m 68 now and it’s debilitating. I’m on medication but I still struggle every … Read more

I remember as a child growing up that I would daydream a lot. I was terribly afraid of math but was above average in reading and writing. I avoided taking algebra and higher level math in high school. Didn’t score very well on the SAT and had to take remedial math in college. Before entering … Read more

Living with ADHD in the Military is one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. Mostly because they have high standards of excellence and require you to maintain those standards. For the longest time I didn’t know what was wrong with me. Why couldn’t I just do the same things everybody else was doing? … Read more

I’m Jacky, I’m 43 and was diagnosed over 21 years ago with Clinical Depression and severe anxiety. For the past year, I have come to understand that it is highly likely I have undiagnosed adult ADHD. It is highly likely that my ‘away with the fairies’ personality is not because my will is fundamentally flawed … Read more

All my life I was “that” person- forgetful, absent-minded, aloof, annoying. I thought I could re-invent myself to be better, and at times I could, but sometimes I couldn’t. I didn’t do as well in high school or college, mostly related to my inability to do homework and poor memory recall. I beat myself up … Read more

Not discouraged by his diagnosis, a young boy focuses on figuring out how his brain works. He watches his thoughts whiz by and compares his thinking process to a speeding race car with no brakes. He recognizes his brain’s unique assets and enthusiastically describes in great detail some of his ADHD superpowers. Not only open-minded, … Read more