ADHD ‘preferred’ diagnosis to Autism for many?

[OverThinkingThelma]

For full disclosure, I have a formal ADHD diagnosis and am saving up for an autism assessment. My daughter is autistic and has ADHD.

A lot of adults I know, or know of, are getting diagnosed or self-diagnosing as ND. But for the majority that I know, it’s ADHD rather than autism. In quite a few cases (where I know the person well enough), I suspect the people who describe themselves as having ADHD are also autistic but they aren’t even considering that.

I think there is undoubtedly still more stigma associated with autism than ADHD. And I have a growing feeling that many adults are okay with seeing themselves as having ADHD, but not autistic, because of that.

Do other people feel that at all? If so, is it a concern? Does it entrench the stigma re autism? Or maybe it doesn’t even matter...

I think your username is very apt.

@Locutus2000 fair point 😂

However (in my defence), thinking about such issues is just part of reflecting on how neurodivergence is perceived more widely.

I tick a few autism boxes, probably not enough, but I wouldn’t pursue a diagnosis mainly because I’m unaware of any benefit at my age (could be totally wrong). Getting confirmation of ADHD made sense to me because it meant access to various medications. That said, yeah, you’re probably right about there being more stigma. Although right now I can think of more ASD celebs than ADHD ones weirdly

Interesting...

ADHD (kids) was considered "just naughty" quite widely back in the 90s/00s.

I wonder if that's changed ...

So we have a major issue - our son went to boarding school not 3 weeks ago and has had his boarding place removed as a result of incidents at school and at boarding.
we have a right of appeal but the damage is done here - his ODD has landed him in trouble, his failure to take meds lead to an incredibly bad day and being in the in company of a kid who had weed lead to a suspension while it was investigated… seriously unfair in my view…so what do we do know?

Are they refunding the Boarding Fees? How old is your DS?

You need to start your own thread,

I often see people talking about their kids on here and saying things that to me seem very typical of ASD (ds is autistic) however several people come along and suggest that they may have ADHD. I'm not sure if this is because there can be a lot of overlap between the two or because they've/their child have been diagnosed with ADHD while also having undiagnosed ASD or what OP. I'm not sure if people are more comfortable with an ADHD diagnosis because although ASD perhaps has more stigma, someone with an ADHD diagnosis probably faces even more skepticism over their diagnosis.