ADHD Symptoms Ambassador
stories

This campaign is initiated
and funded by Takeda

Kim To

The ripple effect of women supporting women within the ADHD community is so powerful.

My trigger point was the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic throughout 2020. I was working in finance at the time as a research analyst. As COVID-19 swept through the world, the markets went into a spin, making it a high-stress environment. The government locked us down and my routine was completely disrupted, ripping my coping mechanisms away from me almost overnight. I was working long days, unable to go into the office, see my friends and go to the gym. I found it so stressful being locked inside. I couldn’t sleep or concentrate and became restless, which started to impact my performance at work. I got to a point of quite deep depression and my doctors first diagnosed me with severe depression.

Even though I was given a diagnosis of depression, I knew there was something more going on.

I was in a stage of hyper-focus and researched the symptoms I was experiencing – landing on ADHD. When I read up on the symptoms, it all made sense and that’s when I realised that depression was a symptom of not tackling my ADHD.

I rang my GP and asked for an ADHD assessment. When the GP told me the waiting list was eight months my heart sank. I felt like I was on the brink of losing my job and the impact of lockdown was so overwhelming. Through my research I found out about The Right To Choose Programme* and managed to not only get an appointment with a private specialist but received a diagnosis within a month. The most liberating thing was that my GP and the specialists I spoke to didn’t question me or make me feel like I was making it up.

Immediately after I got my diagnosis, I felt a sense of grief as I looked back at my life. It was like wow – I have been battling something I didn’t even know existed.

I saw flashbacks throughout my childhood where my behaviour could finally be explained, giving a reason for blurting things out in class or cutting up my clothes and trying to sew them back together.

As I investigated my early adult life, it gave an explanation as to why I hopped through different jobs every year and got bored quickly.

I dived into research on what I could do to process my diagnosis and felt like I needed to channel my symptoms to advocate for others with ADHD. I started my journey towards becoming an ADHD Coach and this really helped my acceptance process.

Just over a year since my diagnosis I am getting to a place of empowerment. I have been round in circles since my diagnosis on the grief cycle and I know the grief will always be there, but I am determined to advocate for women and people of colour with ADHD.

As an ADHD Coach, many of my clients are people of colour and from my experience, there is a real cultural context for those with neurodivergent conditions like ADHD. My parents couldn’t understand it, which rings true for a lot of families of people of colour. I am navigating a neurotypical world and my family who don’t fully understand it. The difficulty for some cultures to accept ADHD is one of the reasons I became an ADHD Coach – to support women and in particular people of colour, creating the network they need outside of their family unit.

I can’t put into words how important awareness of ADHD in women has been to me and others like me. The ripple effect of women supporting women through the ADHD community is so powerful.

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East London

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ADHD coach & other industries

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Aged 26

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Key symptoms Restlessness & difficulty concentrating

Sound familiar?

Do these stories sound familiar to you? If so, you might want to consider speaking with your doctor about ADHD. Visit our symptoms page to learn more or download our discussion guide to help you prepare for your appointment..

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