Today I saw an article about a person who said that her ADHD prevents her from being employed. At first I was like I don’t like how she is using her ADHD as a reason, but then I caught myself and reminded myself not to buy into the stereotype of it’s only an excuse etc.
I also remembered that when I was much younger, about the age of sixteen or seventeen and I was putting my ADHD on application forms as a disability/ reasonable adjustment condition that I would never hear anything back from perspective employers. Of course, that was in about 2003/2004 and ADHD was a much more scary condition that it is now due to more awareness.
However, the sad thing is I do still think that a lot of employers are discriminatory about ADHD either at the selection process or in their treatment of their employee when carrying out their job. In fact I’m pretty sure if I were to put down ADHD on an application form for a role as an education lecturer then I probably wouldn’t hear anything back. I’d probably get the speel about their being stronger candidates who’d applied.
“Discrimination can be direct or indirect but it all stems from the same thing; a lack of awareness of what ADHD is and how it impacts an individual.”
ADHD Girl
Though we have come a long way in terms of ADHD awareness we still have a long way to go in ensuring employers are ADHD friendly. The truth is ADHD is a very manageable condition in the work place with a few simple coping strategies and a few supportive measures. It’s just that a lot of employers are far too concerned about being time efficient than they are about being a good supportive place to work. Unfortunately, this issue isn’t soley related to ADHD, but it does mean having ADHD is hard in certain types of work environments.
That’s why a few years ago I made the decision to go self-employed in all aspects of my work. I’m not saying it works for everybody with ADHD as some people with ADHD do need the structure and accountability of a regular workplace. Sadly, there is no magic coping strategy for this one because you can’t force employers to care more. This is something I’m trying to work on locally and nationally as part of ‘ADHD and Me’ but it’s a mountain of a task and will take some time.
In the meantime if you have ADHD, I advise not listing it until you’ve secured a job because it means they can’t discriminate against you and if you need any help on the job, those of you in the UK, can get in touch with the Access to Work service as a part of the department for working pensions. They can deliver awareness training to your employer and give you a range of strategies to use to help you do your job.
Life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows when you have ADHD, which is why we’ve got to find things that work really well for us and create our own sunshine. Same time next week guys and gals!
