Did you know that statistically speaking working class people are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD? It’s a strange one but come to think of it you don’t really hear of many millionaires being diagnosed with the condition. Of course the working class make up the majority of the population, but you’d still expect the percentage of those with ADHD be the same across the socio-economic classes??
While there is no conclusive proof that ADHD only affects the working class, we’ve got to remember that while ADHD is a neurological condition it can be heavily influenced by various outside factors. These factors include a nutritional diet free of additives (healthy food generally costs more money), access to the best medical care (while the UK has the NHS, it means you don’t get answers as quickly as needed and access to medication can be affected as we’ve seen recently) and access to the best education (individualised teaching and tuition is a lot more expensive than mainstream education).
“We don’t like to think about poverty in first world countries but the gap between the rich and poor is huge in a lot of these places.”
ADHD gIRL
With improvement in all of these areas perhaps even the need for the ADHD label or diagnosis becomes pointless because lets face it if you’ve got access to individualised or excellent quality education, the best food and best health care then your brain may just be getting enough stimulation, nutrients and health so the ADHD isn’t so much of an issue.
So no, while ADHD isn’t just a condition for the working class, it’s the working-class people that seem to be affected by it the most because they don’t have the money to negate the factors which can highly influence the symptoms.
While I’d love to believe that money isn’t the answer to everything, it certainly can buy you access to the very best answers, which sadly means those without money or means need to keep fighting the good fight in this long and hard battle for ADHD equality.
Take care ADHDers and allies, I hope you get your needs met no matter the size of your bank balance!
