What's the point of an ADHD diagnosis?

[HelpAGirlOut1234]

Just as the title says... what is actually the point if you have no intention of taking medication, or medicating your child.

My paediatrician told me 90% gain from meds,and only 10% from all the adjustments in the world. I agree.

I would really be interested in a source for this.

Exactly how I feel.

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves

Same here.
I feel really sad because I have achieved a lot despite my disability, but it's skewed other areas of my life because I just haven't got the energy let to look after those aspects too.
And when I think about what I could have achieved it's gutted, because I could have been brilliant.

It really pisses me off that the level of adhd/autism is judged upon how much your condition impacts others. It's never about how your masking exhausts you or ruins your mental health , if you can show up and appear functional you're 'fine'.

Have you got a source? Because the medication comes with side effects but also many don’t like the impact.

@FriendsDrinkBook that is the same with any disability. Can you get out of bed, cook, eat, dress without help? Can you hold down a job? You are expected to manage the tiredness, pain and other symptoms by yourself.

As a child, diagnosis is access to meds, and reasonable adjustments, same through exams, college, university.

As an adult it allows you protection under the Equalities act, so reasonable adjustments at work, Access to work Grants for stuff to help you manage day to day in your job.

As a volunteer it allowed me to request an admin assistant for the role i did to help keep my diary, keep track of deadlines for me, and help me locate files in a huge database invented by someone which made zero sense to my brain on how stuff was filed.

@Nadeed , indeed. It's something I've only become fully aware of since a couple of members of my family have been hit by disability in varying ways. It's soul destroying. People only want to hear about your best days also , even if that manageable day only occurs 1 day in each calendar month.

I don't like engaging with you and your miscomprehension so stop tagging me.

We absolutely need to stop looking at every aspect of adhd being negative. While there are so many aspects of MY adhd that I absolutely hate, there are many that I love and that I think have shaped me into the successful, happy person that I am
This is where I am too. Looking back, I heard over and over people telling me they didn't know how I did it. I still hear it now in my mid 50s. I always thought this was weird because I just got on with things. I now see how indeed, I manage to do much more than the average person for my age. I have ADHD to thank for that, even if it has certainly held me back too in other ways.

I don't see myself as different and never has. I don't see other people as normal whilst I have ADHD. Most people have one aspect of what makes them that are more or less than what we see as average/normal.

Sadly, I do think many desperately seek a diagnosis to be recognised as different and therefore expecting more indulgence in life overall.

@FriendsDrinkBook There is so much public misunderstanding of disability. Even on this thread the comparisons made to wheelchair users show a total lack of understanding.

@Nadeed definitely. I have one family member who is autistic and one with a physical disability. Both of them are reliant on me in many ways. The challenges are huge and varied.

I just hope that any discussions around disability are helpful at gathering understanding and knowledge. There's a long way to go.

Please explain what I miscomprehended?

You clearly stated that you don’t need a diagnosis of adhd for extra time. And then stated that your child had extra time for an entirely different reason.

@FriendsDrinkBook I think there is increasing understanding around neurodiversity because so many children are now diagnosed. I think the understanding around physical disability, especially wheelchair users, is going backwards. Because people think they know what it involves and they really do not. Even the binary use of visible and invisible disabilities demonstrates that. As if wheelchair users can not have invisible disabilities including neurodiversity.

My child had extra time before her adhd diagnosis. Call it slow processing if you like but she was slower because of her adhd and struggles to focus / need to move ie she had extra time for her adhd without a diagnosis.

Frankly given the long waiting lists and the cost of private assessment children being taught as having adhd but without a diagnosis should get the extra time otherwise the rich have an unfair advantage.

You don’t need a diagnosis for support and reasonable adjustments at uni.

Thanks for this.

As I’ve already explained several times extra time for slow processing is completely different and unrelated to adhd.

Thanks for what? Shes not backed up what you have said.

My child had extra time before her adhd diagnosis. Call it slow processing if you like but she was slower because of her adhd and struggles to focus / need to move ie she had extra time for her adhd without a diagnosis.

This was exactly my experience @Postachio2 - the processing was part of what led to ADHD DX but was something the school could make reasonable adjustments for in the meantime.

It isn’t. What manifested itself as “slow processing” with my dd was her ADHD. She took longer to read and write pre medication because she couldn’t stay focused and could just read in short bursts. The medication clears her brain so she can stay focused for longer, has better clarity of thought, can stay on task and doesn’t have to reread.

Well I have

I've been staying out of this, because I don't have any knowledge either way, but actually she said she was undiagnosed and given extra time because her slow processing was down to her ADHD causing her needing to move and struggling to focus.

That kind of does back up the fact you don't need an ADHD diagnosis to get extra time in exams because of a symptom of ADHD.

Diagnosis makes it easier to get an EHCP, an Ehcp covers them until they are 25 and means extra support in employment and so on.