The way we are

As an adult, getting a diagnosis of ADHD can be like opening a door and discovering why aspects of your life have been so hard.

- RUSSELL BROWN

My 60th birthday party was in magnificent swing when my mate Steve turned to me, grinned and asked when we were going to get our ADHD diagnoses. It turned out to be a trick question: he'd already booked his consultation.

Like Steve, I'd been talking casually about having attention deficit disorder, or being neurodivergent in some way, for years. Lately, we've found ourselves on-trend. An ADHD movie has just swept the Oscars. Daniel Kwan, the co-director of Everything Everywhere All at Once, has talked in interviews about modelling the film on the ADHD experience to the extent that he wound up being diagnosed himself and having the "beautiful, cathartic experience" of realising why things had been so hard.

Deep down, I actually liked the idea. In an interview about a decade ago, I trilled, "I suspect I've got an attention deficit disorder to some extent, which I don't regard as a disability. It helps me process information quickly."

I do apprehend and process information very quickly, if occasionally at the cost of accuracy, and doing five things at once was basically my brand for a long time. Yes, there had been that unfortunate time when I took an office job and lasted all of a day and a half, but that just cemented in the understanding that if I adapted, I could still be me. Nine years of presenting a TV show and relaxing when the red light went on worked pretty well.

In the end, I couldn't keep up with myself. It wasn't sustainable any more to constantly seek the stimulus of urgency, and I felt anxious and unhealthy. This sense of exhaustion is a not uncommon precursor to adult ADHD diagnoses. For Cleve Cameron, co-founder of the social enterprise Big Street Bikers, it was particularly acute.