Tshelane Reid

Until I started on my path to being diagnosed with ADHD, I didn’t know what it was. My only exposure to ADHD was the stereotypes we often hear in the media like being boisterous or hyperactive.

I’ve felt different my whole life and I didn’t understand why, especially at school. I wasn’t the most academic person, but it was around crunch times like my GSCEs or my A-Levels that when I put my mind to it, I would get good grades. I would shut myself away from the whole world and throw myself into studying – something I now know to be hyper focusing.

Looking back, I struggled with social situations and didn’t always understand people or certain social situations.

Throughout my teens, I tended to be quiet and now I have my diagnosis I recognise my silence was to mask my ADHD symptoms.

I would miss deadlines and was always late to everything. As I was growing up people would say, “oh just wake up earlier” but it didn’t feel as easy as that – it was how my brain was wired. I was constantly battling with being called “lazy” or not trying hard enough, which at the time I thought was due to my depression and anxiety but now I know ADHD was impacting me too.

My eye-opening moment was when I saw a cartoon that described ADHD. As I was reading it, I thought, “oh wow, that is me!” I spent the best part of a year researching and looking for a way to push for a diagnosis. At the same time, I started to see people opening up about their ADHD on social media and there was a thread on Twitter where lots of people were talking about how they got a diagnosis. I started speaking to other people on social media and finding out about other people’s journeys with ADHD from all over the world. I stumbled on the Right To Choose Scheme^* via a private provider of ADHD services and immediately signed up. I took this to my GP and advocated for a referral to a specialist through the scheme.

I wanted to get a diagnosis for myself because it is helpful for me to have the words to describe what I’m going through.

While I’ve experienced adversity through work and in some social circles, the diagnosis has allowed me to advocate for myself, and my ADHD.

When I started film school, I was upfront with the administrators about my ADHD and while I didn’t expect support, I felt like it was important for them to know.

Ultimately, knowledge is power, and I found researching, understanding, and diving into ADHD before I was diagnosed helped me on my journey. While a diagnosis is scary, it was one of the best things I could’ve done for me and my ADHD.

Tshelane is a non-binary 26-year-old and was diagnosed with ADHD aged 25. They were born and raised in East London and studied fashion at a university in Scotland. Tshelane is now pursuing filmmaking.