ADHD ISN’T MADE UP… IT’S MISUNDERSTOOD

Taz Thornton was diagnosed with ADHD shortly after her 50th birthday. Here, she takes a deep dive into ADHD, late diagnosis and its impact on women.

Taz Thornton
15 min readOct 3, 2024

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WHEN someone recently told me ADHD didn’t exist and was something people made up to get benefits, it felt like being hit with a sledgehammer.

Not only that, but they insisted ADHD couldn’t be real because it didn’t exist in Victorian times.

This isn’t a new story — it’s really common for ADHD to be dismissed as a fabrication, or for someone to come out with that classic line about everyone being ‘a bit ADHD’ and ‘on the spectrum’.

Most of the time, I genuinely don’t believe statements like these are meant to cause harm or distress — it’s a very real sign of misunderstanding, and that’s what I’m going to do my best to help with in this article.

For so many of us diagnosed later in life, the idea that ADHD is a modern fabrication, or even an excuse, is incredibly dismissive.

ADHD is very real, and modern research has not only confirmed its existence but also uncovered why so many — especially women — are being diagnosed later in life. I was diagnosed at the grand old age of 50. Happy half century, Taz!

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Taz Thornton

3 X TEDx speaker, bestselling author, award-winning confidence & visibility coach. Creator of the #UnleashYourAwesome empowerment & #ProjectArtemis programmes.