My ADHD diagnosis
A few months ago shortly after my son I was officially diagnosed. Talking to the doc it made so many things that I did as a kid make sense and made me realize you can be very smart and very ADHD.
I remember when I was younger they tried to have my mom get me at least get checked out but she refused because I was “too smart”. In retrospect the struggling that caused was a source of a lot of my anger and over compensation issues. After getting some proper help instead of 100% struggle bus all the time started making me resent my mom over it.
Don’t make people struggle, they may not have words for what is going on. Help mentor and guide people into compensating for their weaknesses, maybe even help them give it a name. Getting diagnosed sooner might not have changed much but it would have made it easier for me to understand and probably would have helped me develop coping strategies sooner instead of being stubborn. The coping strategies are better than anything else long term, and learning them as soon as possible could be life changing.
I plan on helping my son figure out what I figured out the hard way sooner than I did, if he is willing. But I am still mad at my own situation to some degree because it didn’t have to be this way.