Disclosing Your ADHD

When an adult is first diagnosed with ADHD there is often the desire to tell the world.

When you suddenly have an explanation for why your life has been so hard, for why you failed and even for where you’ve succeeded, you want everyone to know.


Should I Tell My Boss I Have ADHD?

ADHD Coach Linda Walker: I did a survey to find out how many had actually mentioned it at work, for what reasons, and what were the results.  Now I would say about somewhere around thirty percent of people had mentioned it at work because they were at the point where they were on the verge of either losing their jobs or it was so chaotic, things were so chaotic they needed more help.  Some of them did not, a third of them did mention that they were having struggles but did not mention that it was ADHD you know.

Risk of Losing Job

So they might have said I really have a hard time with the noise in the office I have a hard time concentrating when there’s so much noise.  So they didn’t necessarily mention it asking for specific accommodations.  Out of the ones who have mentioned it about fifty percent of them had the help that they needed and the other 50% of their lost their jobs or got demoted or were passed over for promotion because they they weren’t felt, and that it wasn’t felt that they were able to handle it, which is the sad, sad, sad that part of it.

Work Environment

So you really have to look at the the type of environment you’re working in.  What is the issue that you’re struggling with?  Is it something that you can you can ask help for without necessarily saying anything about the ADHD? and it’s not to be underhanded, it’s just so many people have such poor knowledge about ADHD that they really don’t know what to make of it. They see ADHD as a mental illness.  I see it as a brain difference.  It’s a different way of working and it’s not a bad thing, it’s not a good thing, it’s who you know, part of what you are, and part of the the challenges that you have like everyone else has challenges.

Asking For Accommodations

One example that wasn’t someone who necessarily I could talk about Dwayne my husband for example he didn’t necessarily tell them that he had ADHD, but he needed accommodations and asked for them, and he went from going through to demotions at work, he had one demotion, one job lost, when the motion again to getting to the point where he was within a few years promoted to a very very high position at the company because he got to help him and with some of the people had mentioned that got the help that they needed mostly coaching they got some accommodations but the coaching and the accommodations put together really made a difference.  Some of them have actually gotten to the point where they ended up getting a promotion.

ADHD Success Story

One guy was telling me he had been working from 7:00 in the morning till 10 o’clock at night one of my very very successful clients.  7:00 in the morning till 10 o’clock at night  just trying to survive with everything that he had and the fact that he couldn’t be as as productive as he’d like to be,  he learned how to become more productive.
I had a program that he got involved in and all of a sudden his colleagues are not annoyed with him because he used to do things at the last minute working in a team, they had to do things at the last minute, waiting for him to bring stuff.  All of a sudden his colleagues are asking him in to meetings for brainstorming sessions because he’s got such a you know some of the most amazing ideas. They’re happy that he’s part of their team they and he leaves home, he leaves for work at five o’clock in the evening because he finishes his work and he feels like you know.  I could give myself permission to stop now because I have done some really good work today.  So it’s not just about the work, it’s also about the feeling that you have your self-confidence, the self you know, that the feeling of being competent and being in control of your life makes a major difference.

Competitive Advantage to Accommodations

A lot of employers who have allowed their employees with ADHD to really thrive at work and to really support them have found that it’s been more of a competitive advantage than anything else because now they have ideas that nobody else have you known that these out-of-the-box crazy ideas then nobody’s ever thought of but that worked really really well.
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