Author: emmamahony

ADDISS – the ADHD Information Service is one of the best places to head, for any parents or adults who are struggling with problems around diagnosis or children with ADHD. This year they are celebrating their 25th anniversary and the great Andrea Bilbow OBE – who runs the organisation – is still organising events despite Covid derailing their plans for a packed programme. I am pleased to join her tomorrow to talk about Women and ADHD on Zoom – so come and join us here if you want to learn more here. Tickets are free here.

Titled “Fifty years of unanswered questions” – and under the section of “Real Life” Fiona Kinloch wrote an interview which came at diagnosis from the perspective of having a child with ADHD. I believe that this is how many women finally come round to the idea of having the disorder, otherwise – they just learn to cover up many of the struggles that they face throughout their life, coping with crises as they arise, and unnecessarily working twice as hard as others just to keep on top of their life. See the interview here

Unlike the tv interview on Channel 4 – there was a challenging exchange with outgoing BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour presenter Jane Garvey. When the interviewer offers “I don’t want to be cynical but… ” you know you are not in for an easy ride.

However, anyone with ADHD has heard the arguments and dismissal of ADHD as a genuine mental health issue before, and we are not about to roll over and take the clichés lying down, especially about it being a “gift to big Pharma…” .

I hope the email that presenter Jane Garvey read out from a listener at the end of the interview, which starts at 22 minutes and 24 seconds in, put its importance into context. If people become hermits because they become overwhelmed, they deserve to be valued – not dismissed.

Bella Magazine chose to highlight ADHD in its magazine dated 13 October, by lifting content from the book and adding a “symptom checker”. I liked the photo of the woman with a post-it note on her head. What that had to do with the price of eggs I am not sure – but it looked good.

The piece I wrote for the Daily Telegraph included some detail from my book that has just been published Better Late Than Never about how I had to produce my school reports for my adult ADHD diagnosis. The headline “My messiness exasperated my teachers” was what captured the editors’ interest in this complex disorder.

I hope to add another piece from the Daily Telegraph after an interview with one of their newly diagnosed journalists – who wants to talk to me about sharing common symptoms. Watch this space…

It was a surprise when I wrote a piece for the Daily Mail as an advocate for ADHD Awareness Month and the launch of my book – Better Late Than Never – and they decided to look at it from the angle of falling estrogen levels during the menopause.

The full piece can be read here

Here are some memories of VE day from my parents, now 86, remembering the celebrations in their respective towns of Fowey in Cornwall where my grandfather (pictured) was buried in 1944 and Dewsbury in Yorkshire.