ADHD Awareness Month '24: Part 2

This mini episode is the 2nd installment of a mid-series-mini-series created for ADHD Awareness Month 2024. This October's theme is 'Awareness is Key', so I'm sharing the 'key' pieces of ADHD awareness the ADHDAF Community need the world to know.

The Leopard is the symbol of Aberdeen, Scotland - where ADHDAF began, it also symbolises bravery, the reclaiming of power, plus I'm a total hun! :) So leopard print has become our uniform of unity. We are the Leopard Print Army HEAR US ROAR!

Trigger warning: Contains swearing and mentions of sensitive subject matter some may find triggering; mental health struggles, alcoholism, addiction, drug abuse, relationship struggles, ableism, cancer, long term health conditions, suicide and premature death.

If you are in need of support YOU ARE NOT ALONE! There is immediate help out there so please REACH OUT
Search the ADHD Medication Directory if you are struggling to access medication during the national medication shortage HERE
Listen to Riyadh Khalaf's self support stratergies for ADHDers HERE
It is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I'm in awe of the INCREDIBLE work of the late Kris Hallenga. Sign up for self examination reminders from her charity Coppafeel HERE

You can connect with literally likeminded legends and support the continuation of this podcast by joining the Patreon Peer Support Community
ALL THE GRATITUDE to the Members for keeping this podcast going for over 2 years!

We invite you to join us online Friday 25th Oct for the THIRD ANNUAL ADHDAF DAY! In which we paint the world leopard print to raise ADHD Awareness. Simply wear at least one leopard print item on 25/10/24 to stand in solidarity with the leopard print army and post a selfie or video on your socials sharing the special message you want the world to know about ADHD, then tag @adhdafpodcast and #ADHDAFDay and I will reshare your messages for the world to see and hear us at a time of ADHD diagnosis crisis and medication shortages.

PLEASE SHARE this episode and write a review/ hit those stars, because doing so means these episodes will spread far and wide. Each one contains important information that society NEEDS to know about ADHD and from the very people whose voices have gone unheard for too long!

ENORMOUS THANKS to ADHDAF Community LEGENDS Ruth, Sarah and Jen from the ADHDAF Retreat for sharing their crucial ADHD messages in this episode! x

Let's join forces this ADHD Awareness month. LIVES DEPEND ON IT. 
Myself and the Leopard Print Army thank you for your support! 
Laura x

Transcript

 This is the second mini episode for ADHD Awareness Month. So just in case you're a first time listener, these are not the usual episodes. They're very special episodes for ADHD Awareness Month 2024. The theme of which is Awareness is Key. And I really want to use the platform, not just to raise awareness, but to amplify the voices of those that have gone unheard.

Having always said that ADHD services need to be patient led. Nothing about us without us. It's time to hear from the people who listen to and support the ongoing production of this podcast, who have received validation from the conversations on this platform and who support each other in the absence of adequate medical support, the ADHD AF community, the real stars of ADHD AF podcasts who have kept it going for over two years.

These very special episodes will be shared throughout the month.  Interspersed with the usual weekly episodes, please do have a read of the description in the show notes to avoid hearing anything that you might find triggering before listening on. Though, having said that, there will be some laughs and fun in these episodes along the way also, but what they all contain are really, really important messages from people that have been misdiagnosed, mistreated, suffered ableism in society, and some in their own families.

Before we dive in, I just want to take a moment to pay my absolute respect to Kris Hallenga, the founder of the charity Coppafeel, which raises awareness about the importance of checking our breasts for any signs of cancer. She died at the age of 38 after being diagnosed with the disease 15 years ago.

Alongside ADHD Awareness Month, it is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As ADHDers, one of the many battles that we face on the daily is that we can struggle with self care  and as much as we benefit greatly from routine, we can struggle to set them. So it just really struck me how very important it is to mention that we need to be regularly examining ourselves, which, as I said, is going to be a bit of a struggle.

I went onto the Copperfield website to get the right information to share with you and I've discovered that they provide free monthly text message reminders to examine yourself and there's also the option for email and calendar reminders, so what an incredible service. The link to sign up for it and for more information is in the show notes.

It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month as well as ADHD Awareness Month, so let's check those tits and bits, peeps.  Now, I'm going to hand over to three ADHD AF legends. These statements were actually recorded in person at the ADHD AF retreat. As you can imagine, in a house full of, I can't do numbers, 12 ish of us, at a guess,  ADHDers, there's going to be a bit of background noise.

But I'm sure you can overlook that because these messages are so crucial to hear. So now I leave you with three members of the Leopard Print Army who are roaring. 

Hello, my name is Ruth, um, I am  43. I am self diagnosed ADHD on the waiting list for diagnosis. My message is for anyone out there who is self medicating with something, just know you're not hopeless, worthless, or a waste of space. Sometimes self medicating can help save your life. The only way through is to start looking at the reasons you're self medicating.

I've been clean for over two years now and it only happened when I learned about my ADHD and found this wonderful community. Unfortunately, while the services just aren't out there to help us properly, you can empower yourself with knowledge and find other aliens that will have similar experiences to you.

You are not alone. To any neurotypicals out there, you are not alone. Or people who think they're neurotypical. Stop judging. Stop trying to rationalise the irrational. Lead with compassion. You don't have to understand something to be compassionate. My name is Sarah. Um, I, um, diagnosed, uh, ADHD a year and a half ago.

and ASD two years ago. Um, I am currently going through titration for medication, which I've had to wait for two years for. I think it's bad enough that we've had a lifetime invalidation, misdiagnoses, going to the doctors saying things aren't right, not really doing well, not achieving as much as you should be, being told you're lazy and should work hard enough and should do better in all, in all, all the different walks of your life.

And then You have to face misinformation on the internet. You have to face being told it's because of your diet or because of something else that you've done, or your parents are being blamed for it. One of the best things you can do for us is to get educated and to help to stop that misinformation, because it's bad enough.

Like I said, if we've been invalidated our whole lives, we don't need that added pressure. We need people who've got understanding and yes, some of the things that we speak about sound like things that you have going on in your life.  We're experiencing them several times a day, if not continuously. And also, like, that empathy for you struggling with it is there as well.

Like, we can, we can support each other with those kind of things. But yeah, we need empathy, we need understanding, we need curiosity. And we actually need people to be in our corner helping to fight the fight. Because actually, the additional work of advocating for yourself, on top of your disability, is exhausting.

My lack of support and lack of understanding led me to be in a mental health crisis at New Year. The lack of the support and the lack of understanding is literally letting people want to kill themselves. It's not okay. Hi, I am Jen. I'm from Swindon. I'm 40 years old and I was diagnosed,  probably coming up for my year anniversary.

I think a lot of people that are considering whether they have ADHD. Or not go off of other people they know with ADHD and they think, well, I'm nothing like them. Or people that don't have ADHD  are judging people based upon the fact that, well, they're not like this. So they can't be. And all of the rest of it.

So the simple way that I've thought of to describe it is that ADHD is ice cream. And within that, there are many different flavours. And strawberry and pistachio taste nothing alike. But at the same time, The sprinkles, the, you know, all the rest of it, the syrups that come with it are all just the comorbidities that are plonked on top.

People want to just look at the toppings sometimes rather than what's actually underneath. Things get missed and, yeah, as we all know, the system's a little bit broken. So stop looking at the sprinkles. 

Enormous thanks to the Leopard Print Legends that are Ruth, Sarah and Jen.  I've shared not just these episodes, but all episodes of ADHD AF, not just to validate, shame eradicate and raise ADHD awareness, but it's also that camaraderie. So for example, so many, if not all of us. have suffered perhaps well meaning and completely unknown ableism, but still ableism.

If this episode has helped to validate your experience, the Leopard Print Army are also there to back you up. So if you have anybody in your life who is saying, just try harder in inverted commas, or thinks that you are making excuses in inverted commas and the rest of it, you can literally play them this episode  and the Leopard Print Army are backing you up.

In any case, I would be so incredibly grateful if you could share this episode, any of the episodes, as many as you like of the episodes, far and wide. Joining forces?  Think how much ADHD awareness we can raise this month. If you would like to connect with literally like minded legends, you can join the ADHD AF peer support community.

But if you don't have the funds or you just don't fancy it, there is all sorts of free and immediate support out there, and I've shared a link in the show notes. As I shared in the last episode, ADHD AF Day is fast approaching on Friday, the 25th of October, 2024. I invite you to wear at least one leopard print item to stand in solidarity with the leopard print army.

If you take a selfie. A video of yourself and please share your key piece of A DHD awareness that you would like rose and tag A DHD AF podcast, hashtag A DH ADHD AF day. Then I will share it and we will turn the world leopard print to raise a DHD awareness once again on this very special day. Please remember that self-diagnosis is valid.

You are valid, you matter, and we are all in this together. Thanks again to Ruth, Sarah, and Jen from the ADHD AF Retreat. And to you all for listening, I really appreciate your support in getting the word out there this ADHD Awareness Month. So please do hit those stars, write a review and hit that share button and let's get the world to finally hear us roar.