Are You Using ADHD as an Excuse?

26 Jul 2024 · 1 min

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1:00

In this instructional video, the speaker addresses situations where neurotypical friends, family members, or partners accuse someone with ADHD of using the condition as an excuse. The core message is that both parties have valid perspectives because their brains function differently. The speaker advises acknowledging the other person's feelings, explicitly naming ADHD as a contributing factor, and then outlining concrete, responsible actions to reduce the frequency of problematic behaviors, recover quickly when they recur, and offer sincere apologies. The overall goal is to foster trust, demonstrate care, and balance personal responsibility with an understanding of neurodivergent differences.

Chapters

How to not use ADHD as an excuse. If you're a person who has friends, families, partners who are neurotypical, you have probably heard one or many times you're using ADHD as a crutch or as an excuse to get out of something or to not take responsibility. Whether you think that is true or not true, it's probably true for the other person. What's most important in these situations is to understand that our brains are different, respect That we can both have 2 different truths. So when they happen, it is important to do whatever the other person needs to feel that you care and they can trust you to take responsibility for it. And you can name it and acknowledge that, oh, this is happening because of my ADHD, and follow it up with how we're gonna do responsible things to minimize how often these things occur, recover quicker when they do recur, and to immediately apologize. honestly when they occur.