Content warning: This article discusses sensitive topics including ADHD, depression, and mental illness.
It’s ADHD Awareness Month, and one of the most annoying things I’ve experienced with this disorder is the burden of other people’s incorrect assumptions. The problem is that these assumptions go past annoying and become dangerous when they infiltrate diagnosis, mental health professionals and accessibility offices. Here are just eight of those assumptions:
- The name is accurate
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Do you think ADHD means not being able to focus while you jump up and down the walls? That’s like saying depression is being exhausted. While, yes, some depressed people will experience exhaustion, it’s certainly not where depression begins and ends. You can thank the disorder’s name for that misunderstanding. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is an incredibly limited definition. Let’s break it down. People with ADHD don’t have a lack of attention, we have a lack of control over our attention, and not everyone with ADHD is hyperactive. Even those who are hyperactive don’t all present hyperactivity in the same way.
- Everyone’s a little ADHD
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Sure, everybody gets distracted, feels bad after rejection, or does something impulsive sometimes, but that’s really not the same thing at all. You would never tell someone with arthritis that your hands hurt sometimes after typing a long essay, would you? No, of course not, so why would anybody use the existence of ADHD behaviors outside of the extreme to gaslight people with ADHD?
- ADHD is a collection of symptoms
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So technically, yes, ADHD comes with a list of symptoms, but I’ve finally started to understand the error with equating ADHD (or any mental disability) with a symptoms list. The symptom isn’t the disorder itself, it’s the result of the disorder. My ADHD is inextricable from me. There are no sticky notes on my brain labeled with symptoms that you can just peel off to find the person underneath. I am the person the whole time.
- ADHD is for children
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Although ADHD tends to be associated with childhood, it doesn’t just disappear in adulthood. The assumption that ADHD only affects children infantilizes it. Adults with ADHD are not just tall children, and we don’t just magically become neurotypical when we turn 18. It’s hard enough to find support as a child, but the idea that ADHD only exists in children makes getting accommodations as an adult feel impossible.
- ADHD means a lack of intelligence
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Hopefully, this assumption sounds ridiculous to you. Why would anyone think that? Unfortunately, I can tell you from personal experience that this is a real assumption. It’s not one of those things where people go around saying “People with ADHD are stupid.” No, this assumption is found in microaggressions. It’s found in being rejected for accommodations because of good grades or requiring an IQ test for an accommodation request. It’s bad enough that assumptions like this impact how others view us, but it can also affect how we view ourselves.
- Medication is the only treatment
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Medication is a wonderful treatment option that helps so many people with ADHD, but it’s not the right treatment for everybody. The idea that the only option for ADHD treatment is medication can prevent people from seeking a diagnosis, or from finding the right treatment for them after diagnosis. ADHD is also commonly seen in conjunction with other disorders that can be negatively impacted by medications to treat ADHD. There is absolutely nothing wrong with treating ADHD with medication, but for those who choose not to, other treatment options need to be presented. It’s also important to be clear that medication — or any other treatment option — should never aim to “fix” someone with ADHD. Its purpose is to help us thrive in our environment, not to turn us into someone we’re not.
- People with ADHD don’t need accomodations
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This is a particularly harmful assumption. Not only is it difficult for me to convince myself that I deserve to take the help I need, again and again I have to then convince counselors to give me the accommodations I’m entitled to. ADHD is so misunderstood that I often go into accommodation meetings prepared to teach mental health professionals about my disorder.
- You can tell how severe someone’s ADHD is based on how they act around you
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This assumption comes from a capitalistic view of mental health. Severity is determined by how much it affects nearby neurotypicals, not neurodivergents. “Invisible” disorders like ADHD consistently get downplayed by people who have no idea what the disorder is actually like. No one should feel like their worth as a person is tied in any way to their capitalistic value.
Assumptions like these can have serious consequences. I only ever learned the stereotype of ADHD when I was diagnosed. It’s taken years of interacting with other ADHD folks online to realize how much of my experience is actually ADHD. I hope this can help you to unlearn some of these very common misconceptions.