ADHD Awareness Month '24: Part 4

This mini episode is part 4 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.

Enormous thanks to Marianne, Jenny & Kim for volunteering their voices and for all of their support.

Trigger warning: Contains swearing and mentions of sensitive subject matter some may find triggering; mental health struggles, ableism, risky behaviour, ableism, bullying, family struggles, low self esteem

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’s also Dyspraxia Awareness Week; find out more about the commonly co-occurring condition HERE & HERE

You can connect with literally likeminded legends and support the continuation of this podcast by joining the Patreon Peer Support Community
Enormous thanks 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 that 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! 

Let's join forces this ADHD Awareness month 
TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN!
Myself and the Leopard Print Army thank you for your support
Laura x

Transcript

  This is the fourth installment of the ADHD Awareness Month special episodes from the community. So if you're a first time listener of ADHD AF, this isn't the usual episode. This is a mini episode as part of a mid series miniseries created for ADHD Awareness Month, the theme of which this year is Awareness is Key.

So what you're going to hear are three snippets from three legends, three conversations had with. ADHD AF online peer support community members. I asked them what their key piece of awareness they would like raised for ADHD Awareness Month. 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. Those who have received validation from the conversations held over two years on this platform. The peers supporting each other in the absence of adequate support. I wanted to use the platform the best way that I could, so I wanted to amplify the voices of those that have gone unheard for far too long. 

These very special episodes will be shared sporadically throughout ADHD Awareness Month, interspersed with the usual weekly episode. Like yesterday, I interviewed Jane Walsham, the mother of Jodie, who allowed me to share her story. It's a really, really important episode. If you've not had a listen, I would really love it if you would.

But it is an emotional episode, and with that in mind, please do have a read of the description to avoid hearing topics you might find triggering before listening on. In yesterday's episode, I announced the charity ADHD AF  which is dedicated to Jodie Walsham, to all of our absent friends, and to what I jokingly refer to as our absent minded friends, the Leopard Print Army.

And now, Let's hear from three Leopard Print Army legends sharing what the world needs to hear this ADHD Awareness Month. I'm Marianne, I'm 41. I was diagnosed this year sometime, I can't remember when, with combined ADHD. What I would like people to know is it's not a fucking joke. It can be utterly debilitating some days and the frustration that comes from that really impacts kind of who you are.

As a person, I think, like, not being diagnosed for so long, it's definitely shaped who I am, and in terms of, like, how you feel about yourself, self esteem is, you know, cripplingly low. It's impacted my mental health, and I know that I'm not alone in that. That's something that people don't seem to realize, like, it's really impacted on being able to function as a human.

Still, people kind of laugh about it because, oh, you forget things, or, you know, you've lost something again, or whatever. Or you're late again. Um, but I think kind of trying to sort of accept that my brain is the way it is, is a really difficult thing. It's really hard work to sort of accept that that is who I am.

And, It's exhausting, as well, on a day to day basis, like, how much harder stuff is than for other people, and then your sort of feelings of guilt and shame about not being able to just do things that other people can just do easily. There's two of us in this house, and both of us are neurodivergent, and it's just bloody chaos all of the time! 

Hi, my name is Jenny. I'm 38 years old. I am Costa Rican and I currently live in Boston, Massachusetts in the U. S. I am a data journalist during the day. I was diagnosed with ADHD in January of 2023, so I was still 36 back then. a few short months after I was diagnosed with autism as well. I would say that even though there are the common symptoms that can be used for diagnosis, it looks very different on everybody.

We don't just come in one presentation, but rather we all have different Different levels of different things and then our personalities can even show differently to the outside world. There are many of us walking around the world that are like, quote unquote, fully functional people. We're not really addressed or helped in any way because we are able to hold a job, sort of, and have a life, sort of.

But the internal struggle is still there, so it's all different presentations and levels of struggle and, uh, different strengths and weaknesses, you could say. Hi, I'm Kim Pierpoint, I'm 53 years of age and I'm based in Wiltshire in the UK. My diagnosis came at 51, at the same time as hitting perimenopause.

And my discoveries were many, but the one that really stick to mind that I want people to know about is the impulsivity that manifests in my life. And it's manifested in many, many ways. I've always been an impulsive shopper and I've always ended up hiding most of my shopping because I just love the thrill of buying.

Often I don't even want the products that I buy, but I love the thrill of buying. But my impulsivity manifests in other ways as well. So when the influence of alcohol I can be really impulsive and risk taking, whether or not that means doing silly things, finding myself in dangerous places, being with people that I don't really know.

But impulsivity  manifests in different ways for many, many people. I don't know if I can control it. I don't know if I want to control it. But what I do know is that I now actually understand when I walk into a shop, and even if I haven't got the money in my pocket, I buy plenty, plenty, plenty of items. I understand now that it's all about the dopamine kick for me and that's what I get is a big dopamine kick.

So I'm Kim Pierpoint.  Yoga teacher, mid life empowerment coach, and an ADHD advocate.  So enormous thanks to the wonderful Maz, our Marianne, Jenny in Brooklyn, and our Kim Pierpoint, the legendary Kim, who I do the ADHDF retreats with, who also runs the self care club in the community. What a bunch of legends.

Thank you so much to all of them and to all of the community for all of their support and for helping me raise ADHD awareness this month. And it is so crucial that we do. And I would be so incredibly grateful if you could also help me by sharing this episode and by hitting those stars or writing a review.

I really want to get these mini episodes spread far and wide because each contains such important messages that society really needs to hear.  And from the people whose voices have gone unheard for too long. If you would like to connect with a whole host of like minded legends, like our Marianne, Jenny and Kim, you can join the online peer support community via the link in the show notes, where you will also find a link to free and immediate support.

We invite you to join us. The Leopard Print Army on Friday the 25th of October for the third annual ADHD AF Day in which we paint the world leopard print to raise ADHD awareness. All you need to do is stick on at least No multiple or preferable One leopard print item on this day to stand in solidarity and post a selfie or video sharing what you would most like the world to know about A DHD.

Then just tag A-D-H-D-A-F podcast. Hashtag ADHD AF Day and I will reshare your messages. Myself and the Leopard Print Army thank you for your support. Let's join forces and get the world to listen to us this ADHD Awareness Month. Lives literally depend on it.