Terry Matlin
Appearances
Climbing the Walls
She wrote the book on women, shame, and ADHD | 2
So as I started learning more about ADHD, and, you know, a few books were out there, and then, boom, it hit me like a ton of bricks. The lights went on.
Climbing the Walls
She wrote the book on women, shame, and ADHD | 2
And so I started to, the best I could was to investigate, you know, I'm kind of interested in research and all that, but there wasn't anything out there. So I basically did a lot on my own. You know, then books started coming out and it was a hot time for ADHD to become more publicized and stuff, but not a loss.
Climbing the Walls
She wrote the book on women, shame, and ADHD | 2
I went to that, and I was overwhelmed because I was in a big space with people who were just like me, and it was okay to be just like me. So I just felt comfort in being around people who were also feeling like I was feeling. We were relaxed because we were okay now. We were in a group of people where it was okay, it was normalized to feel this way, to look this way, disheveled.
Climbing the Walls
She wrote the book on women, shame, and ADHD | 2
If we forgot, you know, different colored socks, I would see all kinds of It was fascinating. And so the person, whoever it was, said, I want to make an announcement. We have in our audience a woman who is writing her first book, Women with Attention Deficit Disorder. And she's in our room today, and this is a phenomenal book. Nobody was doing ADHD, especially in women.
Climbing the Walls
She wrote the book on women, shame, and ADHD | 2
And I grabbed the book, and that book changed my life. I was in tears that I was reading about me. I felt understood for the first time. It's the only book I ever read more than once, more than twice. I have no patience to reread books at all, but hers I did.
Climbing the Walls
She wrote the book on women, shame, and ADHD | 2
I remember her talking about the secret, you know, having to keep it all a secret because we didn't fit the mold of a woman who could do what we do, you know. And I really was attracted to her whole idea, and I talk a lot about her work.
Climbing the Walls
She wrote the book on women, shame, and ADHD | 2
When she says that girls are socialized to be the caregivers, to take on all these responsibilities, you know, home, work, children, partner, all that kind of stuff, and we in our minds fail. And what does that do to your self-esteem? Well, that just took my breath away. It took my breath away because I was really struggling in those early years when I first discovered her, and I couldn't cope.
Climbing the Walls
She wrote the book on women, shame, and ADHD | 2
And I felt just horrible. So that book gave me hope that, you know, this is a thing. I don't have to feel bad that I'm not like my friends or my relatives. I'm still working on it, to be honest.
Climbing the Walls
She wrote the book on women, shame, and ADHD | 2
My experience anyhow to this day, now, all the work that we've been doing, we still get misdiagnosed with depression or they see depression, but they don't see the ADHD component to it or the comorbidity.
Climbing the Walls
How social media changed ADHD forever | 3
They do have access to more information. So they have an idea of, okay, I think this is related to my ADHD, but I don't know what to do. I was diagnosed with depression, I think it was ADHD. How do I tell them that it could be ADHD?
Climbing the Walls
How social media changed ADHD forever | 3
I'm trying to disseminate appropriate, valid information and not, oh, I lost my keys. I have ADHD.
Climbing the Walls
How social media changed ADHD forever | 3
I think that as women, we're stuck at home with... a lot of them with young children or older children, and they had to not only figure out how to work from home, helping their kids with school, being, you know, isolated and being expected to be able to take on all of this stuff, and they were just climbing the walls. Women were just climbing the walls.
Climbing the Walls
How social media changed ADHD forever | 3
I got a lot of emails and these gals were really, really frustrated and their self-esteem. It was, why can't I do this? I'm not used to being home all day. I have no structure. I have no outside people telling me, you know, this is due now. What are you doing? You're going to, you know. They got overwhelmed. It was really heartbreaking. It was too much. So they reached out for help.