ADHD Awareness Month '24: Part 5

This mini episode is part 5 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 Kirsten & Jill 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, bullying, family struggles, low self esteem, suicide

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
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

 If you're a first time listener of ADHD AF podcast, this isn't the usual episode. This is a mini episode as part of a mid series miniseries created for ADHD Awareness Month 2024. And this is the fifth installment of eight or nine. I'm not sure yet. Um, October is ADHD Awareness Month and this year's theme is Awareness is Key. 

What you're about to hear are two segments from two crucial conversations had over Zoom with members of the ADHD AF online peer support community. I asked them what the key piece of awareness they would like to raise this ADHD Awareness Month is. 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 for over two years on this platform. The peers supporting each other in the absence of adequate medical support. It's so important for those of us who have not been heard or supported to have our say. So I wanted to use the platform the best way I could.

These very special episodes will be shared sporadically throughout the month, interspersed with the usual weekly episodes. Please do have a read of the description to avoid hearing topics you might find triggering before listening on. Now you're about to hear the Leopard Print Army roar. Take it away, Kirsten and Jill.

Hi, so my name is Kirsten. I'm 34, Scottish from the Central Belt. I've been living in Aberdeen for a few years. I came up for university, ended up staying up here because I landed the job as a museum assistant. So I was diagnosed later in life, which seems to be the case for a lot of AFAB people. Diagnosed with autism at 24 and then with ADHD at 31.

In a way, getting the diagnosis has felt like being smacked by a train. I did originally write that it was like, Oh yeah, it made so much sense and everything. And then I look back at it and I'm like, It really didn't. It really felt like being smacked by a train. Because nobody told me. And then when I got diagnosed, people were like, Yeah, that makes sense.

And I'm like, Great, could have told me.  But you know, unravelling over time I did realise that it did make sense. I just didn't realise at the time because I was so disconnected from it, and I was just in survival mode, and trying so hard just to move myself forward with things that people just seemed to get on fine with.

And after much reflection, meditation and therapy, I see that that's why I felt different. That's why I struggled in certain environments, and that's why I always had a sense of being an outsider growing up, and I always had long periods of self reflection, thinking back on life, and I've been healing and growing from that.

Dealing with things in bite sized, bite sized stages, because it was just too painful if I took too much on to deal with it. Fitness has been a big part of, of that time, cutting time out of my week for something that is for me, And I've started running recently, um, and I've been doing circus for eight years.

So these things are kind of like building up confidence.  Building up autonomy of self and kind of growing past my anxieties and fears and even before diagnosis I always had a feeling of not quite fitting in and like school Social situations there was always a sense of something something on the fringes like I wasn't Wired the same way as everybody else. 

It wasn't until I started speaking to friends that had similar experiences and, like, communities that I was, like, felt more at peace with it and I felt, like, safe around people, you know, when I went off on tangents and stuff.  I was like, oh no, people are looking at me. Am I, am I speaking too much? Is this too much?

Or  Um, but it's really inspired me to seek out communities like Crafton and so on, that kind of thing. And just finding places where I belong a bit more because I know there's spaces out there. And when it comes to ADHD, one of the things I want to raise awareness about is the reality of academic burnout.

It's something I've experienced quite deeply through university. ADHD isn't just easily being distracted or struggling to focus. It's about feeling out of sync with the systems that just were never there. were never built for people like us and I often felt the education system failed me and that led to avoidance issues and major issues with authority because in early school I was like I'm being good.

Why am I still getting into trouble? You know, why, why don't I understand that there's playtime and like work time and I want to just play by myself at playtime and I want to speak during work time to everybody else. Yeah, academic burnout, um, wasn't just about procrastination. Or getting things done in time is about the emotional mental exhaustion of trying to force myself into a mould.

So it's sometimes misunderstood or overlooked. I'd say a year on I'm still recovering from it. Even silly things that I'm celebrating like sewing a button on my jacket, which has taken me months to do and I've just been walking about without a button on my jacket. ADHD. It is more than what people talk about with the traits.

It's a lot beneath the surface, going on my emotional turmoil and navigating the world that doesn't accommodate you a lot of times, whether it's work, school, that kind of thing. So you're like, oh, there's no accommodations made for me. For me, finding community in space where I feel understood. has made all the difference.

That's why I'm passionate about working in community settings and I'm hoping to do more of that in the future. Hi, my name's Jill and I'm on the ADHD waiting list. I've been on for about a year with Right to Choose, so self diagnosed at the moment. But one of the things that really struck me when I started looking into ADHD was this idea of laziness and procrastination because  I've felt for most of my life that I just can't seem to do things or get started on things that other people seem to do quite easily.

And I sort of think, you know, you have quite a lot of anxiety around it. So I think that learning about how  My executive functions work a different way. Um, it's helped me to be kinder to myself when I can't start a task or when I feel like I'm too overwhelmed to even think about what needs doing.

Although people seem to be lazy and seem to not pay attention. We're doing things that we are trying our best and we are just not quite able necessarily to put the the task in the right order or contemplate all the amount of things that need to be done in order to get the task done  or even simply just thinking well that's gonna take, I don't know, an hour of something that might only take five minutes.

I can't always contemplate how long it's going to take and that can also add to overwhelm. We're not lazy. Our brains are wired differently.  Enormous thanks to Kirsten and Jill. Such important messages that society really needs to hear. It's really important that we get those voices heard this ADHD Awareness Month.

And if You really resonate to any of the things that these two legends said. You could always share this with people in your life that think it's just you. You can show them, have the Leopard Print Army back you up, and just share it with people who need to hear it. So I would be incredibly grateful if you could help me raise ADHD awareness this year.

This month by sharing this episode and by hitting those stars or writing a review or commenting on the Q and a, if you're listening on Spotify, I want to get these mini episodes spread far and wide from the people whose voices have gone unheard. If you'd like to connect with a whole host of like minded legends, like this wonderful pair, you can join the ADHD AF 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 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 pop on at least one piece of leopard print. On this day to stand in solidarity with our Leopard Print Army and post a selfie or video of what you would most like the world to know about ADHD. 

Then just tag ADHD AF podcast, hashtag ADHD AF day. And I will reshare your messages. Myself and all of the Leopard Print Army. Thank you for your support.  Jane Walsham, the mother of Jodie, whose story was shared in the previous interview,  shared the danger.  Of not listening to people who have gone their lives not knowing that they have ADHD.

The waiting list that we have in the UK estimated at over 196, 000 people that could be waiting for up to 8 years in some places. It's really, really dangerous. The system needs to change. And I believe that if we join forces and we roar loud enough, then the powers that be will need to listen. People's lives depend on action being taken and change happening.

So let's join forces and get the world to listen to us this ADHD awareness month.