ADHD isn’t just about being distracted. It’s about living in a world that wasn’t built for your brain.
Introduction
ADHD, short for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, is one of the most commonly diagnosed neurodevelopmental conditions across the globe. While it’s often associated with childhood, ADHD doesn’t “go away” with age. It’s a lifelong neurotype that continues into adulthood, impacting how people focus, process emotions, manage time, and relate to others.
But here’s the thing: most of what we know about ADHD comes from a deficit-based model. That is, ADHD is often framed only in terms of what’s wrong, broken, or lacking.
This post aims to shift that narrative.
Drawing from recent research, including lived experiences of adults and therapists with ADHD – we’ll explore what ADHD is, how it shows up across the lifespan, and why a neurodivergent-affirming lens is crucial for understanding and supporting ADHD.
What Is ADHD?
ADHD is currently classified as a neurodevelopmental condition in both the DSM-5-TR (APA, 2022) and ICD-11 (WHO, 2021). This means it’s related to how the brain develops and functions, especially in areas like attention, executive functioning, and emotional regulation.
Core Traits
ADHD traits fall into three general patterns:
Inattention (e.g. distractibility, forgetfulness, trouble starting or finishing tasks)
Hyperactivity (e.g. restlessness, fidgeting, high energy)
Impulsivity (e.g. interrupting, blurting things out, difficulty delaying gratification)
People may be diagnosed with one of three presentations:
Predominantly Inattentive
Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive
Combined Type
However, many in the neurodivergent community prefer the word traits over symptoms, as the latter reinforces a medicalised, pathologising view of natural brain differences.
How Common Is ADHD?
Globally, ADHD is estimated to affect:
Around 5–7% of children
About 2.5% of adults (Song et al., 2021)
It often coexists with other neurodevelopmental conditions like dyslexia or autism. In fact, ADHD is one of the most heritable psychiatric conditions, with genetics playing a significant role alongside environmental factors such as stress, trauma, and prenatal exposures (Faraone & Larsson, 2019).
ADHD in Adulthood: The Missed Majority
Many adults go undiagnosed for decades, only discovering they have ADHD after a child is diagnosed, or after repeated burnout, career struggles, or mental health crises.
Studies show untreated ADHD in adulthood is linked to:
Low self-esteem and emotional dysregulation
Academic and work-related challenges
Relationship difficulties
Higher rates of anxiety, depression, and substance misuse
Yet it’s not all doom and gloom. When properly supported, adults with ADHD can and do thrive – especially in roles aligned with their strengths and interests.
Rethinking ADHD Through a Neurodiversity Lens
Traditional views of ADHD focus on deficits, like poor attention or lack of impulse control. But this overlooks a key truth: attention isn’t absent in ADHD – it’s variable.
People with ADHD often report:
Hyperfocus during passion projects
Big-picture thinking
Quick decision-making under pressure
Deep empathy and emotional sensitivity
This perspective aligns with the neurodiversity paradigm, which recognises neurological differences like ADHD, autism, and dyslexia as part of natural human diversity, not disorders to be “fixed”.
What Is Neurodivergent-Affirming Practice?
A neurodivergent-affirming approach does not ask “How can we normalise this person?” but rather:
How can we support them to thrive as they are?
What environmental or systemic barriers are impacting their well-being?
What strengths, interests, and values can we build on?
It also involves epistemic humility, respecting the lived experience of neurodivergent people as valuable expertise.
Why Context Matters
One of the most important insights from recent research is this:
ADHD traits are often context-dependent.
Many people with ADHD can pay excellent attention, just not always to the things they’re “supposed” to. This isn’t laziness or defiance; it’s a reflection of how the ADHD brain is wired to respond to novelty, interest, and urgency (Barkley, 1997).
This helps explain why people with ADHD often struggle with:
-
Paperwork but excel in creative brainstorming
-
Boring routines but thrive in crisis response
-
Unrewarding work tasks but dive deep into passion projects
As Hallowell and Ratey (2021) describe, ADHD is often a collection of contradictory strengths, chaotic in some moments, brilliant in others.
Stigma, Masking, and Mental Health
Many people with ADHD experience shame before they even know they’re neurodivergent. Childhood experiences of being told they were “lazy”, “too much”, or “not living up to potential” can lead to long-lasting internalised stigma.
To survive, many ADHDers learn to mask – to hide traits and pretend to function “normally”. But masking comes at a cost: exhaustion, anxiety, and disconnection from one’s authentic self.
Receiving a diagnosis in adulthood often brings immense relief. It can help people make sense of their past, validate their struggles, and begin cultivating self-compassion.
ADHD as a Strength: What the Research Shows
While ADHD is often framed in terms of difficulties, research and lived experience also highlight its potential strengths, particularly when people are in environments that suit their cognitive style. For example,
- Hyperfocus can allow someone to dive deeply into creative projects, coding, crafting, or problem-solving for hours at a time.
- Emotional sensitivity may support meaningful connections in friendships, caregiving roles, or artistic expression.
- Divergent thinking – the ability to generate ideas quickly or see connections others miss, is often a huge asset in innovation, design, and entrepreneurship.
These strengths tend to emerge most clearly in settings that are interest-driven, values-aligned, or offer autonomy. However, without the right supports or understanding, the same traits can lead to overwhelm, perfectionism, or burnout.
The key is not whether ADHD traits are good or bad, but whether they are recognised, supported, and channelled in ways that work for the individual. (Ho, 2022)
Supporting ADHD: What Helps?
While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, effective support for ADHD often includes a multimodal approach:
For Children
Interest-based learning
Positive behavioural support
Parent-teacher collaboration
Play therapy and social skills support
For Adults
ADHD coaching or therapy (CBT, DBT, ACT, etc.)
Practical systems (task management tools, timers)
Medication (where appropriate)
Community support groups
Workplace accommodations
Importantly, support should always be:
Person-centred
Strengths-based
Respectful of autonomy and identity
Final Thoughts
ADHD is not a character flaw or a failure to try hard enough. It’s a different way of being in the world.
People with ADHD are problem-solvers, deep feelers, rapid thinkers, and imaginative minds. When we move away from deficit-based frameworks and towards neurodivergent-affirming approaches, we create space for people with ADHD to thrive.
Let’s stop asking “What’s wrong with them?” and start asking:
“What supports do they need—and what might the world gain when we make space for them to flourish?”
ADHD isn’t a flaw to fix.
It’s a difference worth understanding.
References:
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