Today is AuDHD Day – and it marks the recognition of a community long overlooked
Autism and ADHD often coexist, yet the overlap is poorly understood and rarely diagnosed. For Sara-Louise Ackrill, discovering she lived with both transformed her life – and revealed the importance of finding safety and belonging among fellow AuDHDers.
For most of my life I thought I was “just” autistic. It was not until the silence of lockdown in 2020, when I launched my business with no outside distractions, that another truth became impossible to ignore: I also had ADHD. The two had been present all along, one masking the other. And I am far from alone.
Research published in Frontiers in Psychiatry suggests that between half and three-quarters of autistic people also have ADHD. Yet securing both diagnoses is rarely straightforward.
Many adults reach their first diagnosis late in life, and by then few have the time, money or stamina to join another waiting list or start a fresh assessment.
The irony is that once support is in place for one condition, whether therapy, coaching or medication for ADHD, the other often reveals itself with force. Neurodivergence is lifelong, but one set of traits can obscure another until it is properly recognised.
External events can accelerate that process. The pandemic was one such trigger, exposing ADHD traits in people who had never suspected them. For women, perimenopause often plays the same role, as the drop in oestrogen unearths traits that had always been there.
This year, thanks to Rachel Morgan-Trimmer, the chief executive of FireBird, a consultancy specialising in neurodiversity, AuDHD now has its own visibility day. AuDHD Day will be held annually on September 10.
The initiative is welcome. The space where autism and ADHD meet can be confusing, and it requires nuanced support. As a therapist I hear repeatedly from newly diagnosed clients that they feel pulled in two directions, unsure how they are supposed to manage both. I reassure them that it is possible. In my own case, it has taken patience and self-work, but I have come to see the conditions as balancing one another in unexpected ways.
My ADHD diagnosis, though late, was almost exhilarating. During lockdown I was free to pour my energy into building my business, uninterrupted by outside noise or routine. The result was a rush of focus, creativity and drive so intense that my emotional regulation coach was hearing from me four times a day. For the first time I understood why doctors had once suspected bipolar disorder: the productivity, excitement and sheer exhilaration of those weeks resembled a high.
Yet AuDHD Day is not only about recognition. It is also about community and the sense of psychological safety that comes with it. Among autistic or ADHD-only groups, I find my traits exaggerated. In ADHD company, I become more rigid, precise and impatient with what I see as illogical behaviour. With autistic peers, I swing to the other extreme: excitable, brimming with ideas, sometimes to the point of chaos. It may be a form of masking—an instinctive adaptation—but it can be exhausting
When I am among fellow AuDHDers, the pressure lifts. Conversation is more candid. There is pride instead of shame, and a shared language of jokes, references and cultural shorthand. Before neurodivergent events it is common to see reminders such as “If I don’t recognise you when we meet, don’t take offence”—a nod to the facial-recognition difficulties many of us experience. These are the details that make such gatherings disarming and safe.
Everyone needs a tribe. I am grateful for the wider neurodiversity community, but within it there is a subgroup where I feel a deeper equilibrium. To be among people who live with both autism and ADHD is to be able to rest, mentally and physically.
That is why AuDHD Day matters, and why it deserves to be celebrated.
Sara-Louise Ackrill is a therapist, and co-author of The ND Lovers Club: How Neurodivergent Women Lust, Like, and Love. She is the founding CEO of Wired Differently and co-founder of Start Differently, a non-profit supporting neurodivergent people in employment and entrepreneurship. Sara specialises in workplace inclusion, neurodiversity awareness, and domestic abuse advocacy in professional settings.
Words by Sara-Louise Ackrill for Belters News