Gonna be completely honest: Opened this thread expecting to wade into a fight, have gotten to the bottom and feel both relieved and guilty for having such a pessimistic mindset.
I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was six years old, when my family lived in the USA. I've been managing it for most of my life through a combination of medication and therapy. I say "most of my life" because there were times when I foolishly thought that I could deal without any help and ignored incredibly obvious signs that I couldn't. As an adult, I was further diagnosed with GAD and Depression but honestly, every one of my problems stems from ADHD.
The popular belief of ADHD is that it means you're a little airheaded and hyperactive, but I can tell you with certainty that, for me anyway, it makes regular life more difficult most days and unbearable on the worst days. My childhood and adolescence was a nightmare because of the side of ADHD that most don't know about: I'm talking inability to read social cues; not understanding anything but completely explicit, impossible to misinterpret instructions; emotional dysregulation, when I'm angry I want to put my forehead through a brick wall, when I'm upset I'm sobbing, when I'm confused I'm yelling at the top of my lungs; being unable (and I don't mean finding it difficult, I mean physically and emotionally unable) to engage with anything that doesn't spark a specific part of my brain to the point of disassociation and feeling overwhelmed to the point of shutting down at certain triggers.
As I said, over many painful years I've learned to manage it. I'm very happily married, have many rewarding hobbies, have a career I excel in and am passionate about and have many wonderful friends.
Speaking as someone who is classified as "neurodivergent": All I want from the world around me is a little bit of flexibility, a little bit of kindness and understanding, access to the appropriate tools I need to manage my difficulties and the right to be left alone to live my life the best way I can without feeling like I need to defend my honour because somebody somewhere has gotten a first class flight due to ADHD or whatever it is this time. I have never asked for any kind of special treatment above and beyond what anyone else would get apart from "please go easy on me, I don't mean to come across as rude", and never will.
