Hey everyone, hope you’re all well. I tell you something — I’ve been glad we’ve had a couple of cooler days lately! I also hope you had an amazing weekend.

Today, I want to talk to you about something personal: my recent ADHD diagnosis, what it means to me, and why I decided to go for an assessment — even though I didn’t know much about ADHD at the time.

When I was a child, ADHD seemed like something only “naughty” kids were labelled with. That was the impression I had. I struggled in school — both in the classroom and socially — but back then, no one ever pushed for an assessment or looked deeper into what might be going on.

It wasn’t until a couple of years ago, when I went for an autism assessment, that things started to make more sense. During the online meeting, the assessor told me I’d scored highly on the ADHD screening and suggested I go back to my GP for an ADHD referral.

I did exactly that, but the referral was initially rejected due to “not enough evidence.” That was frustrating — but I didn’t stop there. I spoke to Sue Willgoss from Lift for Danny, a real local hero in this space, and she pointed me towards the Right to Choose pathway.

With Sue’s guidance and support from the original autism assessment team (who even contacted my GP on my behalf), my doctor agreed to send a referral through Right to Choose.

A month later, I heard back from Psychiatry UK. I completed more questionnaires, and then came the long wait — 12 to 18 months. During that time, they checked in every couple of months, which I really appreciated.

When my appointment finally arrived, it felt like I was on trial. The assessment was intense, but the clinician diagnosed me with ADHD on the spot. When I received the written report, there were a few mistakes, which I’ve since flagged up.

Before this whole journey, I had no idea that autism and ADHD could co-exist. It was Sue and other autistic people I spoke with who explained that this is actually quite common. When someone has both, it’s known as AuDHD. I think that’s a clever name — even if I still can’t pronounce it properly!

Thanks for sticking with me through this long post. If you’ve got any thoughts or similar experiences, feel free to drop a comment — I’d love to hear from you.

Take care, and have a great rest of the week. 💬💙

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