October is the international ADHD awareness month. This initiative of the European ADHD patient organisations aims to raise awareness about ADHD, and funding for more research to understand ADHD. Throughout Europe many events will be organised this month to inform people about ADHD. Because although most people have heard about ADHD, there are still a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings of what ADHD really is.
This year’s theme of the ADHD awareness month is ADHD and employment. As ADHD is increasingly being recognised as persisting into adulthood, ADHD on the work floor is something to take into account as well. The bad news is that unemployment rates are higher for people with ADHD [1] as well as the number of absence days and turnover rates [2]. But the good news is that ADHD is often associated with entrepreneurship. For instance, a large registry-based study showed that a high number of hyperactive symptoms is related to a high chance of being self-employed [3].
According to Andrea Bilbow, president of the European organisation ADHD Europe, “it should be more widely known that people with ADHD have great skills to offer to employers. It is important for employers to understand that ADHD is a disability, and that people with ADHD can be a great asset if you find their strengths. Employers should be aware that if you help employees with ADHD to scaffold the things they’re less good at, then they can excel at the things they are good at. For instance, in general people with ADHD are very good in IT, in problem solving, and in fixing things. They are often less good at paper work and processing a lot of information. So one piece of advice is to not overload them with too many instructions. Instead, if you give them one task at a time and they will do task incredibly well.” So are you an ADHD-friendly employer? We previously posted a blog on this.
The ADHD researchers that are affiliated with the MiND the gap-blog are also contributing to ADHD awareness month. We will be posting several blogs this month about our ongoing studies and recent publications on ADHD and comorbid disorders (i.e. from the CoCA project). Furthermore, at several European sites researchers are organising events to raise awareness about ADHD. In Nijmegen, The Netherlands, for instance you can come to the university’s open day on October 6 and draw your own superhero with ADHD (you can even win a prize!). Also check out the website of the ADHD patient organisation in your country or city to find out more about what’s happening.
Last, but definitely not least, we will soon be releasing a short documentary about ADHD that was created through the MiND-project, in collaboration with the other EU-funded projects and research consotira (Aggressotype, CoCA and Eat2BeNICE, IMpACT). So keep following this blog for updates, and spread the word about ADHD awareness!
For more information about ADHD awareness month, visit the website of ADHD Europe: https://www.adhdeurope.eu/
Jeanette Mostert is dissemination manager for the projects CoCA and New Brain Nutrition (Eat2BeNice).
Further reading
[1] Kuriyan, A.B., Pelham, W.E., Molina, B.S.G. et al. (2013) Young Adult Educational and Vocational Outcomes of Children Diagnosed with ADHD. J Abnorm Child Psychol, 41: 27-41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-012-9658-z
[2] Kleinman, N.L., Durkin, M., Melkonian, A., Markosyan, K. (2009) Incremental Employee Health Benefit Costs, Absence Days, and Turnover Among Employees With ADHD and Among Employees With Children With ADHD. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 51: 1247-1255 doi: 10.1097/JOM.0b013e3181bca68c
[3] Verheul, I., Rietdijk, W., Block, J. et al. (2016) The association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD) symptoms and self-employment. Eur J Epidemiol, 31: 793. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-016-0159-1
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