never really felt that having ADHD meant that I had accessibility issues, aside from maybe needing to get up from my desk and walk around more often than neurotypical people, but hybrid working is....genuinely going to be a problem for my career? I can't do Zoom! I just can't!
It's always hard to say this without sounding like I'm slipping into 'ADHD isn't real territory' (I definitely have symptoms, so I'm absolutely not) but my God we have perfectly designed a world to trigger all the symptoms of it haven't we?
I am definitely sympathetic to the idea that increases in adhd/autism diagnoses are (in addition to being a correction to under diagnosis) due to the increased sensory overload of the world compared to, say, ten years ago. >>
(Not that the people getting diagnoses didn’t have the conditions then, but the environment they were existing in didn’t exacerbate symptoms to such an extent that they’re debilitating.)
Yeah. It's just so, so easy to put yourself in circumstances that exacerbate the symptoms and so many jobs put you in exactly that place. I honestly think that's a big driver behind the uptick in diagnoses - it was easier to mask or decide it wasn't big enough to deal with 25 years ago.
Yup. Deffo part of why I have struggled more in recent years, and subsequently got diagnosed.
Perimenopause screwed me over, but looking back the signs were there from childhood waving giant flags… but it was the 80s, so I was just told I was lazy and not putting effort in…then spent my entire adult life on antidepressants because turns out my brain isn’t wired for the world we live in 😂
Ahh yes the misdiagnosis of depression. I am low key terrified of (peri)menopause, but 🤷🏻♀️ we hope for the best.
Ugh. It’s been *interesting*. I couldn’t get my brain to focus on anything. All my self-taught concentration tactics (cos obviously that’s how I survived this far 😂) just stopped working. My « side quests » turned into « side multi-season epics ». Everything was overwhelming. Yay Ritalin… 👏🏻
I’m glad 💊 has brought some relief. (Just remembered I forgot to take all my doses today 😂)
Hahahaha I have so many reminders… they work ~ 75% of the time
This is basically why I take Ritalin… otherwise my brain disengages 5 mins into work related conversations. Also fidget rings are helpful 😂
It's terrible. I've had to basically get a mass of fidget tools around me to handle it at all. You'll see me playing with a giant D20 on zoom like Saruman.
So you aren't rolling your next response/question.
I've broken so many lanyards fiddling with them on teams meetings, I really should invest in a fiddle tool
What about if you had zoom but strapped to your head so you could walk around?
I have a tendency to get up from the desk and walk around when on Zoom, apparently it makes people sea sick if I don’t turn the camera off (laptop balanced on one hand usually)
I have ADHD and literally do this. Stabilizer harness wirh iphone facing me so I can zoom at work and walk around thr park. It unironically works gangbusters
It’s very challenging! I’ve been realizing some of the ways ADHD has been career limiting for me recently. A subtle — and frustrating — one is small vocal patterns that result in feedback that I lack “executive presence” or “polish”
Are you medicating your ADHD? For me, the meds didn't work sadly, but my sister says her life is absolutely massively improved since starting them, and I can see that in her. There are lots of automatic transcription options, which could help, so you can review after the call. I find that helpful.
Having subtitles on gives me an extra 10 minutes or so, but it’s a real problem.
I had a manager who used wireless headphones and would walk around the room (sometimes even answering his front door) while on Zoom calls.
I don’t turn the camera on most of the time these days , most people don’t want to see me in my pants and I can’t be bothered dressing up for a conference call . So it’s not that bad as when it first became a thing
Tour guide? Something fun in the service sector? White collar jobs are not really much fun, rarely creative, and AI will either smash things up or add to the grind. Although I work in data which is fun and definitely for the curious, but requires 1-2 years of retraining.
I need the $$ though, journalism pays well!
I have self-confessed ADHD colleagues in the data sector, and I recognise some of these traits in myself... seems from what they say that the attention deficit can be mitigated by self knowledge and work practices but that the killer is routine and boredom.
Digital cartography? Can pick up geospatial skills very quickly using open source tools and there is a shortage of people in this area. Very well aligned to journalism as everything happens somewhere.
Designing teeth on a computer is apparently a Thing.
I can totally relate. Last week I zoned out about 15 minutes into my initial zoom meeting with *an ADHD coach* ffs. I was looking at the screen and he was talking and I realised I'd hadn't paid attention to what he had been saying, because I was trying too hard to look like I was paying attention.
I find its directly correlated with how interested or how much i have to contribute - if i have thoughts about what the meeting's about, it feels more just like a conversation. Otherwise, well, im already sat a computer so ill just do something else and tune out...
The only way I can focus in Zoom meetings is by knitting. I used to think I was using it as an excuse because I wanted to knit, but have learned that without it I absolutely cannot stay focused on what people are saying.