“I’m so ADHD,” people say. “I just can’t get it together today.”
“Oooh, look, a squirrel!”
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“Doesn’t everyone have ADHD these days?”
You’ve probably heard flip comments like these. I have. And if you’ve heard them enough, maybe you’ve internalized them as I have.
Do I really have ADHD? I’ve wondered this more than once (I definitely have ADHD). Maybe you hesitate to share your diagnosis with others, because, as happened to a recent contestant on The Bachelor, they might listen to you, nod their heads, and then say, behind your back, “ADHD, my ass.” Maybe you’ve stored up shame about your disorder since you’re so distractible that — look! A squirrel!
Maybe someone’s laughed about your ADHD diagnosis and said that ADHD’s a great way to get your hands on some amphetamines. Your face burned because you need that medication, and people act like you’ve found a legal loophole to use street drugs. If you’re in college, maybe someone has offered to buy your pills. And when you said, “No,” they glared.
These slurs and misunderstandings take a real toll on our self-esteem. While many of us with ADHD are open about our disorder, some of us are afraid to speak up; we worry about our job prospects (or even relationship prospects), and we even feel that if we just tried harder, maybe we wouldn’t “act so ADHD.” Those voices, and the myths they perpetuate, become echoes of our long-ago teachers and frustrated parents that reveal all of our most tender insecurities.
ADHD Myth #1: Neurotypical People Are Sometimes “So ADHD”
No, you don’t get free rein to claim a condition. (After all, you wouldn’t say you’re “having a diabetic moment.”) Yet neurotypical people “claim” ADHD all the time, and it speaks to ways we’re misunderstood and minimized. ADHD is much more than “I forgot my purse this morning” or “I keep spacing out during boring meetings.”
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When neurotypical people complain that they’re “so ADHD,” they perpetuate a stereotype — not only about what ADHD is (we can’t get it together), but also about how minimally it manifests (forgetting purses and spacing during meetings). It neglects so much of our diagnosis, from rejection sensitivity dysphoria to hyperfocus and from analysis paralysis to time blindness. The stereotypes also skip over our social difficulties and anxiety.
ADHD Myth #2: It’s Always a Squirrel
Instead of the aforementioned complicated stew, our condition narrows to one focus: Mild and sudden distraction. “I’m having an ADHD moment,” a neurotypical person might say. Really? Try having an ADHD life. It’s much different than a moment of “Look! A squirrel!” (Why is it always a squirrel and never, say, a butterfly, a janitor, or a freight train?).
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#ADHD is NOT just being distracted by a squirrel.#ADHD is being so overwhelmed trying processing 2 people talking to you at the same time that it causes a panic attack.
Learn about the real effects of adhd before you throw it around as a diss.#bachelorabc
— TAN (@tanswims) January 11, 2022
I wish my ADHD only caused mild and sudden distraction. Life would be so much easier. I wouldn’t fall down the rabbit holes of Instagram. My hyperfocus wouldn’t feel quite so much like missing time. I wouldn’t cry when my husband mentions taking out the garbage because I have rejection sensitivity dysphoria, and I think he means that I should have taken out the garbage; why haven’t I taken out the garbage already; and I am a terrible person who cannot keep a house clean.
But, no, those flip comments reduce ADHD to sudden, childish distractibility. No wonder everyone minimizes our disorder. Do they really think we take drugs to stop that?
[Take This Self-Test: Could You Have Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria?]
Myth #3: Everyone Has ADHD These Days
Now that more people (especially women) are getting accurate diagnoses, I hear this a lot. “Oh my God, everyone says they have ADHD. You know those kids in school only do it for extra time on the SATs,” people tell me.
Aside from cheating the SAT (a vanishingly rare occurrence), why would people falsely claim to have ADHD? Is it trendy or cool to have a diagnosis that makes people lob epithets like “spaz,” “hyper,” and “too much?”
“Lol everyone on Twitter says they have ADHD”
Gosh I wonder why people with ADHD might be overrepresented on the dopamine slot machine website
— Louisa 🌈👭 (@LouisatheLast) January 4, 2022
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Yeah, that makes sense.
Myth #4: ADHD Is “A Little Kid Issue”
This one got tossed around on The Bachelor, too. It’s extremely harmful to adults who have finally been diagnosed to invalidate their medical condition. We’ve spent an entire life — especially late-diagnosed women — being told we’re lazy, crazy space cadets who talk too much. We just need to try harder.
My husband and I, both diagnosed at a late age, once had a heart-breaking conversation comparing our teachers’ misunderstandings. “If you’d only try harder, you’d be at the top of your class,” they’d say. “Why do you keep making careless mistakes? You need to check your work.”
Saying it’s a little kid disorder invalidates all that pain.
My husband’s students play a game: They ask a question that has nothing to do with class and see how much time they can burn. They know that my husband’s ADHD, which he’s open about, can lead to a 10-minute digression on ancient cephalopods.
Before I was diagnosed, I kept forgetting that I needed to give my kids lunch, and by the time they said they were hungry, they were miserable, angry messes. We are adults. We have ADHD.
And it’s hurtful to kids when people assume they’ll “grow out of it.” While it can seem as if they do, the reality is that the challenges simply morph with time and age. This can lead to uncomfortable conversations. When I once mentioned that my son took methylphenidate, a family member asked, “Well, how long will he have to take that?”
“Maybe for the rest of his life,” I said.
He gave me a look that said I was clearly not making good medical decisions for my children.
Adults with ADHD have coped with enough judgment and stigma in our lives. We don’t need any more. Next time someone makes a squirrel joke, don’t give an embarrassed smile. Gently speak up instead. ADHD is much more than forgetting purses or spacing out. And people need to know it.
ADHD Myths & Truth: Next Steps
- Free Download: Inattentive ADHD Explained
- Read: 10 Things I Wish the World Knew About ADHD
- Read: What Is ADHD? Definition, Myths & Truth
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Category: WHY
