I know women it’s gone either way for.
I’m also on the ADHD bus for later diagnosis.
Also diagnosed later was trichotillomania. Because apparently pulling out your eyebrow hairs, arm hair, and eyelashes, among many other things, obsessively is just a teen girl/young woman beauty standard thing.
That’s so disappointing, it’s something that really should have been spotted. You were really let down
100% I didn’t get diagnosed with or even screened for ADHD until my mid-30s, even though my dad has it. I wasn’t disruptive so they just ignored the many, many struggles it caused.
I’m a trans woman and was not aware when I got diagnosed, but during that process we went through an ADHD mastery course and most participants were women. The course itself covered early on how women are often diagnosed later in life because
- Women are often better at masking
- Women tend to be the inattentive kind of ADHD, which does not fit the stereotype and therefore is less often detected
- Women are likely more often the inattentive kind because of how we are raised
I discovered I was trans during the process and learning most women have my kind of ADHD was very affirming <3 Ofc, women can have both kinds of ADHD, but for irrational reasons it was still nice to learn
Being better at masking is a really good point! Lads also often avoid problems which could contribute
I’ve met ADHD women that’s happened to! So many people just think it means “naughty” therefore boys, so ADHD women get missed.
