No surprises

On Thursday 14th May I was diagnosed with ADHD. It came as no surprise. At all. 

I had suspected it for years. Friends and colleagues had too. Friends and colleagues had too. My lovely friend Ruth (SENDCo at one of the schools I worked at) was convinced of it. Colleagues, who proved to very much not be friends, suspected it, and I believe used it against me to destabilise and ultimately damage my mental health.

As another friend who was also diagnosed last year said something that really struck a chord: that the diagnosis meant nothing, and everything.

Nothing in that it was more-or-less a given.

Everything in that it was complete validation. Also it could now potentially mean that I can find actual solutions for the brain fog, the depression, the anxiety, the RSD, the lack of focus, the restlessness, the guilt, the inability to relax, the obsessing, the absent-mindedness, the blurting stuff out, the intensity, the zoning out, the self-doubt, the frustration, the anger – the list goes on... My hope is that anxiety/depression are a mere byproduct of the ADHD or even a misdiagnosis.

I don’t want to get my hopes up too much and I obviously don’t want to be anyone but myself. However,  surely this could mean finer tuning with meds that work better than the ones I am currently taking.

For years I have lived using the strategies I could to cope. Most of the time it has worked out pretty well. But could the anxiety, depression have been easier to deal with, and breakdowns actually been avoided if this diagnosis had happened earlier in life?

If only it had been official during those really hard times in London. It might have made the struggles a bit easier to bear, and share. I certainly would have been able to throw the book at my victimising bastards' faces. Duty of care was certainly not there, quite the opposite in fact.

Depression/anxiety have to be taken into account. The following is from the ACAS website:

The law on mental health

 

Employers have a 'duty of care'. This means they must do all they reasonably can to support workers' health, safety and wellbeing. This includes:

o   making sure the working environment is safe

o   protecting staff from discrimination

o   carrying out risk assessments

 

Employers must treat mental and physical health as equally important.

 

This duty of care has barely been an afterthought in my experience.

 

ADHD adds another layer of duty of care – again from the ACAS website:

 

Mental health support

 

Neurodivergent workers might experience mental health problems related to their condition.

A lack of support from their employer can make this worse and:

o   affect their performance at work

o   lead to increased sickness absence

 

Employers should consider how to support a worker with any mental health problems, as well as with their condition. Doing this can help improve a worker's performance and productivity.

 

I wonder if this would have made more of a difference at my lowest ebb in the workplace. Had I known at the time, this extra ammo could have been a real gamechanger. I’ll never know, but it’s so difficult not to mull over it.