![\"Metro](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI_268629269-6c74.jpg\")
\n\t\tThis ADHD Awareness Month, it\u2019s time to stop calling ADHD a \u2018superpower\u2019 (Picture: Metro\/Eleanor Noyce)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tThis ADHD Awareness Month, it\u2019s time to stop calling ADHD a \u2018superpower\u2019 (Picture: Metro\/Eleanor Noyce)<\/p>\n
Scrolling on TikTok<\/a> after I was first diagnosed with ADHD<\/a>, I was desperately searching for a community to connect with. And while I deeply resonated with others, particularly women, who were sharing their lifelong struggles, I quickly came across one trope that left a sour taste.<\/p>\n On countless podcasts and social media posts, I saw other neurodivergent<\/a> people encouraging their fellow ADHDers to view their condition not as something to hold them back, but as a \u2018superpower.\u2019<\/p>\n For a fleeting moment, I truly wanted to believe that I could be capable of channelling this mentality. Understanding my true self and unlocking the answers to questions I\u2019d chased after for so long was truly liberating, but afterwards came a heavy realisation: I\u2019d spent more than 20 years not understanding my own brain. I mourned that loss of time.<\/p>\n And so, I truly wanted to believe that if I could sugarcoat this diagnosis in some way, shape or form, that could only be transformative. I could let the subsequent grief destroy me, or I could take another spin on it.<\/p>\n Pretty quickly, though, I realised that it simply wasn\u2019t going to work for me.<\/p>\n As someone with ADHD,\u00a0I believe\u00a0this\u00a0term\u00a0is toxic positivity<\/a> at its finest,\u00a0trying to force us to perennially see the \u2018good\u2019 in the condition while ignoring the difficulties that come with it.\u00a0<\/p>\n It plays into the idea that, for people living with ADHD to be palatable, we exclusively need to play into our strengths \u2013 and ignore how debilitating living in a world designed by and for neurotypical people is.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t That\u2019s why I believe that now is the time for us to stop perpetuating this rhetoric \u2013 because not only does it misrepresent ADHD as something that can and should predominantly be used to our advantage, but it also suggests that we can almost \u2018girl boss<\/a>\u2019 our way out of the ableism<\/a> that still oppresses neurodivergent people every single day.<\/p>\n For as long as I can remember,\u00a0I have perpetually run late (which was so common that my friends had developed a term for it: \u2018Ellie time\u2019); I\u2019m so clumsy that I trip over my own feet; I leave virtually\u00a0every\u00a0task until the last\u00a0possible\u00a0minute, and I\u2019ve always struggled with my mental health.<\/p>\n I vividly\u00a0recall\u00a0telling my mum\u00a0at 15\u00a0that if a doctor were to look at my brain, the scan would light up in bright, colourful hues.\u00a0This is because\u00a0I was convinced that I was hard-wired to process information differently and always felt that I experienced emotions on a deeper spectrum than the average person.\u00a0<\/p>\n Doctors thought I had anxiety and depression<\/a>, and I was prescribed SSRIs, beta blockers, and\u00a0recommended\u00a0meditation and talking therapy. Nothing worked.\u00a0<\/p>\n Finally,\u00a0in November 2021,\u00a0aged 23\u00a0\u2013 after an assessment with a psychiatrist \u2013 I got\u00a0a diagnosis of\u00a0combined ADHD. There are three types of ADHD: inattentive, hyperactive, and combined, which means that I display elements of both hyperactivity and inattentiveness.<\/p>\n I have trouble focusing, but my mind can also be incredibly frenzied. I can be pretty disorganised at the best of times, but there\u2019s equally a lot of energy passing through me: my leg is always jittering up and down, and I\u2019m often fidgeting.<\/p>\n Hearing those words come out of his mouth was a complete relief, as though years of struggle had been validated in one fell swoop. It taught me that I wasn\u2019t broken \u2013 my brain was just a little bit different.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t Shortly after my diagnosis, I started to find solace in engaging with the neurodivergent community online.<\/p>\n While much of what I encountered made me feel safe in the knowledge that it wasn\u2019t just me who felt like a square peg in a round hole, I quickly came across a piece of terminology that didn\u2019t quite sit right with me: the idea that ADHD is a \u2018superpower.\u2019<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get me wrong: I completely see why someone \u2013 neurodivergent or otherwise \u2013 would try to focus on the many positives that living with ADHD can bring.\u00a0<\/p>\n Whether they\u2019re just living with one form of neurodiversity or other conditions that fit under the umbrella, too \u2013 like autism<\/a>, dyslexia, or dyspraxia \u2013 every individual experience of ADHD is absolutely unique.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s not a one-size-fits-all experience, but I personally know that I\u2019m constantly overflowing with ideas, I can jump into action in a crisis, I\u2019m highly creative, and I\u2019m incredibly passionate. So much so that I can end up hyperfixated on my special interests for hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tADHD Awareness Month 2025\t\t\t<\/p>\n Taking place every October, the theme for this year\u2019s ADHD Awareness Month is \u2018The Many Faces of ADHD.\u2019<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not just neurodivergent people who should care about ADHD: there\u2019s value in those without the condition understanding it, too. No amount of awareness is too great, and one of the best things neurotypical people can do for us is give us allyship.<\/p>\n With that in mind, Metro Lifestyle will be embarking on a weekly series of ADHD content throughout October that aims to demystify what it truly means to live with this vastly misunderstood condition.\u00a0<\/p>\n Our brains are a little bit different, and that\u2019s okay. Now, let us tell you all about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n I know everything about my favourite bands, and I\u2019m able to recall with remarkable accuracy the exact year a film, album, or book I enjoyed came out. It\u2019s just like having a \u2018mind palace\u2019 or an archive inside my brain, stacked full of everything I\u2019ve ever been enamoured with \u2013 even if that was 14 years ago, when I was a teenager on the school bus listening to my iPod.\u00a0<\/p>\n But when I\u2019m crying on my bedroom floor because my room\u2019s a mess and I physically can\u2019t tidy it up; I\u2019ve forgotten to pay a bill and I\u2019ve subsequently been\u00a0charged, or my mind has been racing so much that sleep has been replaced by insomnia, these positives don\u2019t always come to me. And in these low moments, I certainly don\u2019t feel as though I have a superpower.\u00a0<\/p>\n All I can feel is frustration. It\u2019s dark, and it can be lonely.\u00a0<\/p>\n When we think about superheroes and special \u2018powers,\u2019 we might conjure up images of benevolent saviours in capes. It\u2019s not really my kind of thing, so the best analogy I can conjure up is Batman declaring, \u2018I am vengeance, I am the night.\u2019 But in one way or another, they\u2019re usually there to save the world.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t see how I\u2019m supposed to fit that trope. The reality is that ADHD still holds so much stigma and misunderstanding \u2013 and likening it to a \u2018superpower\u2019 completely downplays the reality that the estimated 3 million Brits living with it face every single day.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2024, one study from pharmaceutical company Takeda found that 96% of people with ADHD said they were hesitant to tell their workplace about their diagnosis.\u00a0<\/p>\n Almost three quarters\u00a0attributed this towards fear of judgment, while\u00a0around half\u00a0worried that it could be used against them.\u00a0<\/p>\n Against that backdrop,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0perpetually inundated with misleading headlines about our community: that ADHD is being \u2018overdiagnosed\u2019 now. In 2023, the BBC went as far as to send a reporter out to private ADHD clinics to see if he could obtain a diagnosis, despite not having the condition.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the aftermath, charity ADHD UK polled 2,203 people living with the condition and found that 90% believed that ADHD stigma increased in the aftermath of its airing, while 88% were concerned that it wasn\u2019t fair in its representation.\u00a0<\/p>\n And so, this ADHD Awareness Month, the best thing that we as a community can do for ourselves is to leave behind this \u2018superhero\u2019 narrative. I wouldn\u2019t change my diagnosis for the world; understanding who I am and how my brain works has forever changed my\u00a0life.<\/p>\n But to suggest that it\u2019s not a completely disabling, debilitating condition that so many continue to misjudge is, for me, a complete falsehood. Society owes us more than that.\u00a0<\/p>\n Do you have a story to share?<\/p>\n Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI_269150197-11fe-e1759683807166.jpg\")
\n\t\tFor as long as I can remember, I\u2019ve felt different (Picture: Eleanor Noyce)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI_269150203-35c8.jpg\")
\n\t\tI was diagnosed with ADHD in 2021, at the age of 23 (Picture: Eleanor Noyce)<\/p>\n
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