AuDHD
I was diagnosed with ADHD as kid, back when it was just “the hyper kid” thing. I actually forgot I even had it for a while, because that’s all it was to me: being hyper.
For years as an adult, I suspected I had autism.
I struggle to make eye contact. I don’t always relate to people well. I have a thing about textures. I fixate on things.
Then, a few years back, I learned that ADHD and autism have a shockingly large amount of overlap (yay, internet!).
The venn diagram isn’t a circle, but it’s more overlapped than not.
A lot of stuff I associated with autism are also ADHD symptoms. I just never new. “That explains that!” I though.
But recently, I’ve been seeing people talk more about AuDHD, a dual diagnosis of ADHD and Autism (or ASD—Autism Spectrum Disorder).
Getting a dual diagnosis is really hard, because much of the medical system still thinks of them as two separate conditions that can’t exist together. You’ll also meet doctors who will casually be ableist and imply (or outright say) that autism is worse or that “you don’t look like someone with Autism.”
But if you’re curious, I found two really helpful videos on AuDHD and the overlap of ADHD/ASD that you might find useful as well.
First, 5 signs you have ADHD and autism by Samantha Stein…
Then, 5 Signs You’re A High-Masking Autistic With ADHD by Chris of Chris & Debby (this one has embedding disabled, sorry!).
Neither person is a doctor. These are just real people with real diagnosis talking about their own conditions.
But, in my experience, neurodivergent people are often far better at talking about neurodivergence than the medical community, so I find this kind of stuff really valuable.