ADHD Is Not A Disease

You get the brain you’re born with… (sort of)

Jillian Enright
Published in
4 min readFeb 4, 2022

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Created by author

Can you develop ADHD?

In a word: no. You are either born with ADHD or you’re not. However, it is very possible for symptoms to go unnoticed for a long period of time, making it feel like ADHD just sprung up out of nowhere.

There are many students who don’t struggle with their ADHD symptoms until they reach University, where the academic and executive functioning demands are much greater.

This is particularly true for bright students, who may have “gotten by” without much trouble before because their intelligence made up for their undiagnosed ADHD symptoms.

This ends up causing even more problems if they pursue post-secondary education because they haven’t developed strong study skills, nor the strategies to manage any ADHD traits that interfere with school performance.

ADHD may become more apparent when someone gets their first “real” job out of high school or university. As teenagers, we typically have part-time jobs without much responsibility. As we’re beginning our careers, the expectations and level of responsibility are much greater, so the cracks in the mould begin to show.

Adulting is hard

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Jillian Enright
Invisible Illness

She/they. Neurodivergent, 20+ yrs SW & Psych. experience. I write about mental health, neurodiversity, education, and parenting. Founder of Neurodiversity MB.