Does Adult Onset ADHD Exist?

Written By Cynthia Hammer, MSW

Written by Cynthia Hammer, MSW

Lately, I have been hearing about “adult onset ADHD,” but I don’t believe it exists.  The people I talk with who were diagnosed as adults tell me they had ADHD as children, but no one noticed or recognized it.   They may have done well in school and didn’t display any disability, (which Dr. Barkley believes needs to be there to have an ADHD diagnosis) but they often struggled, keeping their challenges hidden. They learned to mask their difficulties. They failed to realize that other children didn’t have the same struggles.

If a child with poor eyesight always sits in the front of the classroom so he can read what the teacher writes on the board,  and only discovers in college, when seated in the back of a huge lecture hall, that he can’t see the board, is that when his disability starts? 

If a child with ADHD is functioning well enough to get by, but not functioning as well as she could if diagnosed, should we declare that she doesn’t have a disability until her life becomes unbearably oppressive with all her struggles?

I don’t think so!!

Cynthia Hammer, MSW

Cynthia Hammer, MSW, was diagnosed with inattentive ADHD in 1992 when she was 49 years old. The following year she created the non-profit organization, ADD Resources, with a mission to educate adults and helping professionals about ADHD in adults. She ran the organization for 15 years before retiring.

During the Covid isolation she wrote a book about her life with inattentive ADHD which should be published by the end of this year. In writing the book, she was dismayed to learn that children with inattentive ADHD continue to be under-diagnosed and adults with inattentive ADHD often are incorrectly diagnosed with depression or anxiety.

She created a new non-profit in 2021, the Inattentive ADHD Coalition (www.iadhd.org), to create more awareness about inattentive ADHD and the need for early diagnosis and treatment.

https://www.iadhd.org
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