With the above in mind, it can be more than a little nerve-wracking to tell your employer that you have ADHD. Anxiety and burnout arise in the absence of proper support. Everyone experiences the challenges of the disorder differently - and there are challenges. I don’t believe, for example, that we’re more likely to take creative risks because we “have no time to think and ponder an idea ” (I’m sorry, what?). Still, it’s unhelpful and inaccurate to reduce everyone with ADHD to a set of binary traits. It’s said people with ADHD love to multitask (speak for yourself!) and are known for coming up with novel solutions to solving problems. Navigating ADHD has made many of us resilient, and ADHD has been hailed as a “superpower” that has helped entrepreneurs reach new heights. Many positives about the condition have also come to light in tandem with a broader cultural understanding about the strengths and benefits of a diverse workplace. While there is now more awareness about how attention deficit hyperactivity disorder manifests in adults than there was a decade ago, many myths and misconceptions about ADHD still persist in society – that everyone who has it is messy and disorganized, for example, or that we can’t go for a week without misplacing our keys and wallets. I used to keep to myself the struggles that sometimes came up from navigating spaces not tailored to the way my brain works, in fear of being judged, or being perceived as “incapable.” My story underlines the importance of talking openly about neurodiversity. I wish the culture of that workplace had created space for open discussions about “neurodiversity” – the idea that we all interact with and experience the spaces around us in different ways. Instead, I lived in the discomfort of knowing some colleagues viewed my desk shift as unfair and were speaking negatively about me for “complaining.” I wish I had felt comfortable enough to talk with them about it then. I had told no one else there about my ADHD. The person who took over the undesirable spot, however, was less than pleased. Nervous, I approached my manager to explain that, as someone with ADHD, it would be helpful for me to sit at a different desk. During a random desk-shuffle at a previous agency, I was assigned an undesirable seat adjacent to coworkers known for being chatty. I remember the first time I needed to disclose my ADHD clearly at work. Workplace accommodations for people with ADHD While “ How do you Solve a Problem Like Maria? ” can be read as an affectionate ode to the impulsive exuberance of ADHD, depictions like these have long contributed to the misconception that people with ADHD are less successful or less capable than their peers. Entering the workforce as someone with ADHD is daunting, to say the least.Įxamples of ADHD in popular culture are typically caricatures: flighty, hyperactive slackers unable to focus (Bart Simpson, anyone?), or perpetually late dreamers who don’t play by the rules – think Maria von Trapp from The Sound of Music.
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