The many faces of ADHD: Rethinking neurodivergence at work

October marks ADHD Awareness Month, and while I usually embrace any chance to celebrate my identity as a person with ADHD, this year feels different.

For a while now, neurodivergent people in Australia have been watching harmful public debate about neurodivergence unfold in the US with increasing unease. Last week, that unease became alarm when the US government released deeply harmful claims about Autism. The claims, which don’t need to be repeated here, have since been widely discredited by health organisations across the globe, including Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration.

These claims reflect a concerning narrative from some US authorities, framing neurodivergence as an ‘epidemic’ that urgently needs to be ‘cured’.

This kind of framing not only harms the mental health of Autistic people, it reinforces stigma and risks undermining decades of hard-fought progress for neurodivergent people.

The danger of deficit thinking

While Autism and ADHD are different, they are both neurodevelopmental conditions. Like other forms of neurodivergence, that means Autistic people and people with ADHD process and experience the world differently. People with lived experience and organisations with subject matter expertise widely reject the framing of both Autism and ADHD as problems to be fixed. Instead, neurodivergence is now generally considered as natural variations in human experience and many find the idea of seeking a ‘cure’ for neurodivergence highly offensive.

Using this type of language represents a deficit-focused approach with far-reaching impacts for the neurodivergent community. As Autistic psychologist and neurodiversity advocate Karissa Burnett, PhD, notes, “When we reduce autistic lives to economic output, we revive the same eugenic logic that has endangered disabled people for more than a century.”

I cannot speak for the Autistic community, but I can speak as a person with ADHD. And I know how damaging deficit-based narratives can be.

Like many ADHDers, I’ve had to work hard juggling the daily challenges of navigating a world that was not built for me. For much of my life, I’ve felt out of step with expectations; my thoughts either racing ahead and overflowing with energy, or completely stalled and distracted when I most need to stay present, losing track of time and missing deadlines because I’ve hyper focused on the wrong thing, blurting out comments before thinking them through, missing social cues that seemed painfully obvious to those around me, and pouring so much hidden energy into masking these struggles that I end up feeling completely exhausted.

It has taken me nearly 33 years to reach a point where I feel I can manage my ADHD in sustainable ways. I am still often struggling to stay afloat, but I no longer see my brain as broken or in need of fixing.

Thanks to growing awareness and advocacy over the past decade, I have managed to find the community, support, and evidence-based information to build strategies that work with, not against, my different mind. We cannot afford to let this progress go backwards.

The impact of inclusion at work

While neurodivergent inclusion in the workplace has come a long way, we know that most neurodivergent people don’t share their diagnosis with their employers. Even those who do often still feel they need to hide or ‘mask’ their neurodiversity at work. This can mean anything from supressing ‘stimming’, working extra hours to overcompensate, or monitoring every word and action to avoid standing out. This constant self-editing has a cost, often leading to fatigue, anxiety, and burnout.

At DCA, we encourage employers to take proactive steps to create environments where neurodivergent people feel safe, supported, and accepted. Sharing your neurodivergence should never be mandatory, but inclusive practices must be embedded so that anyone who needs adjustments can access them without fear of stigma.

In my team, I feel supported enough to be vocal about my ADHD. Feeling safe enough to move around or ‘stim’ during meetings, knowing my colleagues don’t take it personally when I interrupt out of genuine excitement, and having access to flexible working options have all had an incredibly positive impact on my working life.

Because of these small considerations, my workplace gets to benefit from many of the strengths commonly associated with ADHD, such as:

• creativity and innovation – people with ADHD literally think differently. They are highly imaginative and excel at brainstorming and thinking up unique solutions to complex problems
• curiosity and interest in learning – ADHD brains are attracted to new and interesting things, meaning we are often naturally curious and eager to learn
• hyperfocus – when a task aligns with our interests or strengths, we actually display above average levels of focus, delivering high-quality results
• crisis management – thanks to a lifetime of navigating challenges, people with ADHD are often resourceful and calm under pressure.

People with ADHD don’t need to demonstrate special skills to deserve inclusion.  These traits are not universal, and they do not discount the often debilitating challenges people with ADHD face. But providing flexibility, understanding, and inclusion allows everyone to contribute in ways that support their unique strengths.

The many faces of ADHD

This year’s ADHD Awareness Month theme, The Many Faces of ADHD, reflects the incredible diversity of people who live with this form of neurodivergence. In Australia, that’s estimated to be 1 in 20 people – around 1.4 million individuals, each with unique perspectives, skills, and experiences to share with our workplaces and communities. Neurodivergence is not an ‘epidemic’. It does not need to be ‘cured’. We need systemic change so that our workplaces and communities are inclusive for all neurotypes.

Many neurodivergent workers may feel anxious or distressed by the recent harmful claims and discourse abroad – it is vital for workplaces to step up and make sure they feel supported, safe and heard during this time.

As we mark ADHD Awareness Month, my hope is that we can move away from deficit-based narratives and instead celebrate the many faces of ADHD, and all neurodivergent people, as an important and valued part of human diversity.