Academics with ADHD: Making the university workplace more accessible for neurodivergent people
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is now one of the most diagnosed neurological conditions in children and can have significant impacts on individuals throughout their lives. Symptoms were once thought to reduce with maturity, however it’s now recognised that symptoms persist throughout the lifecourse. This has resulted in many people not being diagnosed until later in life, and I am one of those people.
In early 2019 my partner was looking into explanations for some of the difficulties my son (now 11) was facing in school and completed a parent-report ADHD questionnaire, but it wasn’t just my son that scored high. I was at work when she texted and asked me to complete the adult questionnaire for myself – it was life-changing. I was diagnosed by a psychologist in 2019 and have been receiving ADHD-specific psychotherapy and taking stimulant medication for the last 2 years. I have embarked on a process of self-discovery, recognising that many of the challenges I’ve faced in my personal and professional life are related to this specific neurological impairment. In this talk I will talk about some of these challenges, how I’ve adapted and ‘masked’ in the past, and what workplace supports have helped now that I have a diagnosis.
Youtube Video:
(Talk begins at 3:21, Presentation at 7:23)
Presentation Slides: PDF version of my presentation