Will Sharing Your ADHD Diagnosis Destroy Your Professional Reputation?
Those thinking about sharing an ADHD diagnosis–particularly the self-employed — often worry about the effect it will have on their professional reputations. I did too. And shared anyway.
(Note: I am not a mental health professional. This blog post reflects my feelings and personal experiences only. If you are interested in checking out resources from mental health professionals, then check out the resources section at the end of this piece.)
A few months ago, I took the (very uncomfortable) decision to share that I was diagnosed with ADHD here on Medium.
I did so primarily because writing is both what I do for a living — well, mostly, at least — but also because it’s a hobby.
I write because I enjoy writing. And it didn’t feel natural to share most of my story without including a key aspect — particularly as it’s an aspect that I’ve been very focused on recently.
I also wanted to raise awareness of the fact that many pre-diagnosis ADHDers attempt to self-medicate using caffeine.
I did this, with some degree of success, for more than 10 years. Because I have a lot to say about the pitfalls of doing this, I was particularly keen to get across why this is typically a bad idea and help other patients see through the flaws in this strategy. I wanted to help.
But because I was apprehensive about sharing, I ran the idea by a couple of people first.
To the first individual: I mentioned that I had been diagnosed and also that I was working on a draft about my diagnostic experience that I intended sharing. I told the same thing to a friend who happens to be a mental health professional training for a post-doctoral degree in psychology.
The two reactions were strikingly different.
“Keep That To Yourself. Your Clients Won’t Hire You If They Find Out”
The only negative reaction I received from my sounding board of a few people — let’s call this person Mrs. A — was a doomsday prediction that disclosing my ADHD diagnosis would have a chilling effect on my inbound lead generation efforts — which I’ve discussed here frequently.
Mrs. A — who, it should be pointed out, doesn’t believe in the general concept of mental healthcare, although I have the strong feeling that she is in need of it — was adamant that mental health diagnoses, being shameful things, should be kept to oneself.
Mrs. A. affirmed that she was aware of the general trend of openness in mental health these days, but pined for a time when people kept “problems” like ADHD, anxiety, and depression where she felt they belonged — in the closet, or rather, in doctors’ offices.
All Mrs. A knew about ADHD was that a “friend,” who she regarded as “crazy,” had been diagnosed with the condition too. It was an unsupportive and discouraging conversation — even hostile at times — from beginning to end.
All I can say is that so far that prediction has thus far (and thankfully) been proven to be flatly wrong: Since tweeting a few times about ADHD and penning a few Medium posts, I’ve had more clients contact me about working with me than usual.
Perhaps correlation isn’t causation and I’m not suggesting that sharing these things has helped. But given that a couple of these leads have come from LinkedIn — where I’ve shared this once — I can’t help but wonder whether at least one person has seen my post and decided to reach out anyway. If that was you — and you’re reading this — it would give me tremendous encouragement if you let me know.
Among Mrs. A’s abundant judgment, however, was a kernel of truth, or rather a seed of doubt that I shared: Perhaps potential clients really would be apprehensive about the idea of hiring somebody who they knew had ADHD.
Would that impact their ability to get the job done? Would they be disorganized and ineffective to work with?
Mental Health Professional: People Appreciate Transparency; Some May Really Like Sharing
My friend — Mrs. B — is both a mental health care professional in training and about the most emphatic person I have ever met. I am certain that she will be a credit to her profession and will make a positive contribution on the lives of her future patients.
So while I mentioned this to Mrs. B primarily to solicit her professional opinion on the potential perils of disclosing a mental health diagnosis publicly, I was also interested to hear what she had to say on the topic of professional repercussions. The seed of doubt that was preventing me from hitting the publish button.
Her advice was salient and I believe on point. And so I’m repeating it here.
She told me that some people will react negatively to an ADHD diagnosis. Both in personal and professional settings. In other words: it’s better to prepare for it than to be taken aback when it inevitably occurs.
Will there be clients who will see one of these posts and decide that I’m not the person for the project / job? I’d imagine that the likelihood of that happening is high. Although I’d also point out that these probably wouldn’t be the type of clients I’d want to work with. So a pre-qualification filter of sorts.
On the other hand, she surmised that people hiring writers — or communicators — might even expect writers to be in the habit of communicating things themselves, much in the manner as I do. While I’m wont to think that sharing a mental health diagnosis could ever be an advantage, the effect on these readers — she predicted — would be neutral.
After hearing both sides of the argument, I decided to go ahead and share my ADHD diagnosis story on Medium. That night, I slept like a log, which is usually my litmus test about whether I’ve made a correct decision. And since doing so, I’ve felt a lot less inhibited about where and how often I mention that fact.
I do so knowing — and expecting — that there are going to be those in the audience who react negatively to what I have to say. But I also know that there’s a chance that what I write might help another ADHD patient or even a few of them. And so, on the balance, I’m more than happy to put these articles out into the ether.
Perhaps I’m being naive or overly-optimistic, but so far I don’t feel like sharing that I have ADHD has adversely impacted my professional reputation.
People still reach out to me about work and a couple of friends have mentioned it in passing in conversation.
The reaction, if anything, has been: “that’s just one of those things that Daniel has and writes about.” In other words, no big deal.
I’m hoping things will stay that way.
