Boy to man with ADHD

It’s not so much his condition as the lack of support, understanding and access to treatment that troubles Ryan Guest about his Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

At school I was known as Riot. I caused maximum chaos in every way, every day: biting teachers as a three year old, stealing a JCB at six and being arrested at nine.

As an ADHD person, I’m a free spirit, uninhibited. I find it difficult to be bound by the rules.
But as an ADHD adult I’ve learned, through hard experiences, brushes with the law and spells in prison, that everyone has to live within these boxes.

If life is a series of stepping-stones to adulthood, people with ADHD have to step into the cold water, then pull themselves out and back on the correct stone.

And sometimes they land on a patch of loose pebbles, like making friends with the wrong people, and have to take a giant leap onto the next stone.

Impatience, forgetfulness, anger, anxiety and depression have to be dealt with daily.

Communicating is another difficulty that I, and others like me, have.

I can’t listen to more than one person at a time and when I’m stressed I need time to think.

Several police officers have beaten me to the ground when I’ve got angry that they won’t just slow down and listen to me.

Some teachers cost me time in school by always assuming that whatever happened was my fault.

I lost one job when a boss discussed my ADHD with a group of large brickmakers who then took the piss until I threw their bricks at them and left the job.

Some of these problems could’ve been avoided if I’d had the help at school that my mum fought in vain for.

In fact there’s been a lack of real professional help when I’ve most needed it throughout my life.

Since the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence issued new guidelines, I’ve struggled to get an appointment at a specialist clinic, because my GP keeps saying that ADHD is a disorder of childhood and that you grow out of it!

I still live a fairly chaotic life but I’m currently coping quite well.

I have a strong bond with my two young children but I’m no longer with my partner who is ADD.

Now I think I’ve cracked it, I work hard and have stayed out of trouble for a while but it’s not a certainty: something may still happen.

I’m hoping the roller coaster ride of my life will steady and slow and ADHD will let me go: to be normal and independent.

On the other hand, who’s to say that ADHD adults aren’t the normal ones? It could be that it’s the rest of you that need treatment!