Dr. Kieran Kennedy

So that really needs to change.

Really depends.

I think this is an interesting thing around neurodivergence as well because I really, really want to make it clear for people that having ADHD, autism, neurodivergence, this is not a blanket negative.

It's not a defect or a flaw or a mutation.

It's not because of Tylenol or paracetamol, obviously.

And so for a lot of people living with ADHD especially, it can have a lot of strengths and great things to it.

And if that's the case, people might not necessarily feel they need to get a formal kind of medical diagnostic stamp or get treatment.

Even personally, I know people who we think, well,

probably there's a little bit of a whiff of ADHD there, but they're really happy and serving them in their lives.

They're not feeling it's sort of enabling, sort of disabling them in any way.

And so someone in that sort of boat might not want to seek out a formal diagnosis or get treatment.

And I think that's really important to call out.

But where it does tip into causing significant negative impacts or impacting someone's potential with study or work or relationships is

That's when it obviously borders into that disorder territory and where someone really might feel they need that medical kind of diagnosis and treatment and support.

I mean, and again, I think that's where some of that stigma comes in around, you know, even now, you know, we hear it and it's out there in terms of like, oh, yes, he's got ADHD or like, nope, my ADHD is playing up again.

You know, and I think it can be used in a bit of a stigmatizing way in terms of sometimes it's to do with things that just aren't ADHD at all.

So it definitely can tip into that.

And that's where, again, I think that stereotypical view of,

a little boy struggling to sit still in class and being really naughty and misbehaving, that's where that kind of stigma and stereotype can carry over a bit still.

Yeah, and I absolutely hear you.