By Angela Prentner-Smith

I FOUND myself relating to an article in Forbes headed “ADHD Crisis in the UK: Under Diagnosed, Lacking Support and Stigmatized.” The article encapsulated the tragedy of the stigma of ADHD, the misunderstanding and the crisis of diagnosis and support in the UK.

I’ve faced the challenging words of "diagnosis doesn’t matter" many times. ADHD generally attracts a sneer, an attitude that the person just doesn’t try hard enough or uses it as an excuse. Then the stigma of "naughty boys" that pervades diagnosis. According to the ADHD Foundation only 20 per cent of people with ADHD receive a diagnosis through school. This figure means for every two kids understanding who they are and potentially receiving support, there are eight that aren’t.

That figure should shock us. It should be a call to arms.

Everything about how we handle ADHD as a society needs reform, including the name. Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder – it is wrong. It’s not a disorder – it’s a different wiring of the brain. Many people with ADHD are not hyperactive, particularly girls. People with ADHD do not actually have a deficit of attention – it’s more that their ability to focus their attention or indeed lift that focus is variable, and difficult to control. The ability to hyper-focus – that is, force great attention to a cause or activity, is as much a part of ADHD as the inattention to mundane tasks.

If you are identified as a person who may have ADHD, we’re currently looking at about a two-year wait to be assessed. Not treated, just assessed. This can be done privately, but the private assessments are not always recognised by the NHS or education establishments.

The diagnostic process is flawed, biased towards male presentation, and uses outdated checklists such as the Connor’s assessment, which really seek to identify the worst of behaviour, and don’t truly acknowledge that kids and adults can mask ADHD, and can cope with ADHD under a great many situations.

Often ADHD co-occurs with other conditions such as dyslexia and dyspraxia – and these may get picked up at school – but without the thought that the difficulties the child is experiencing could be related to ADHD instead or as well as the primary identification. It’s most common that ADHD is suggested when there are extreme behaviour problems – and herein lies the problem. People with ADHD can be wonderful, creative, exceptional people without obvious behaviour problems.

So why does this matter? If they are so wonderful, why do they need a diagnosis?

Because ADHD presents underlying difficulties – anxiety, rejections sensitive dysphoria, sensory overload, inability to focus, depression, poor self-esteem.

As a person with a neurodivergent diagnosis, I know that diagnosis helps you understand yourself. This matters when you are a person that fundamentally just didn’t fit in and struggled with the stuff that everyone else found easy. We owe it to the children and adults with ADHD to redesign the support they receive. So, how do we change the system, address the stigma and provide that support?

Angela Prentner-Smith is Founder and MD of This is Milk, https://www.thisismilk.co.uk/