I am actually grateful for the agony I endured having never been diagnosed at a young age, ( although i am still paying the price with social barriers to overcome,) because I feel it has made me sympathize, and aware of others emotions. Learning to function with ADHD will be a battle, but I think it is a gain of insight most would overlook.

Thanks for your thoughtful response, I was a little upset by the negative tone of this report, so perhaps unreasonable flared off at you. I do take your points but as an adult ADDer, diagnosed in my late forties (UK barely recognises ADHD let alone Adult ADHD), I have struggled with undiagnosed ADHD at work over many years. I have not had extra days off but certainly have not always found it easy.

However, when I have been on form, I have been an exceptionally accurate and fast software programmer, creative marketer, passionate sales presenter, changed many business processes, invented new products and created/ developed/ managed/ led several successful IT start-up companies – all thanks to my ADHD. Despite “not fitting the mould”, undoubtedly much of my value-add at work has been due to my ADHD differences. The report would have missed all of this in it focus on work-hours.

Recently, thanks to my ADHD, I became so bored of IT that I am now training to be an ADHD Coach. I plan to help clients understand that ADHD is a mixed blessing, to understand their differences, to accept their challenges and to embrace their unique strengths. People with ADHD has been of immense benefit to society, without ADHD inventors, ADHD explorers, ADHD comics, ADHD creative artists, ADHD rule-breakers, ADHD stimulus-seekers and ADHD entrepreneurs, mankind would be very much poorer.

ADHD gives both problems and strengths, that’s the wonder of a less-regulated and constrained neurology. So when simplistic reports talk about lost work days without looking at the big-picture of ADHD its a little frustrating!

The questions they used to determine Adult ADHD were based on the DSM-IV Diagnostic criteria for CHILDHOOD ADHD. It is well accepted that the DSM-IV Adult Diagnostic criteria will have different criteria. There is no evidence that this test accurately diagnosed ADHD.

Further the test looked at absent time from work but failed to establish whether ADHD adults were more of less effective when at work than they fellow non-ADHD Neuro-typical colleagues. It may well be that these ADHD adults provide a greater value to their employees than their NT colleagues. Their positive ADHD attributes of hyper-focus, speed of work, greater insight, creativity and the ability to “think outside the box” may well mean they are more productive and offer higher value to their employer. Simply assessing these adults on “hours worked” seems a pretty poor and simplistic evaluation of their worth to the organisation.

Finally though I believe it is of great value for all adults with ADHD to know that they have ADHD, I do not see that this is information that an employer should be privy to, without their employees explicit permission. To allow narrow-minded linear-thinking Neuro-typical managers to evaluate employees in such a one-dimensional fashion would allow discrimination and prevent them from hiring of ADHD employees. These ADHD employees are likely the very people who as entrepreneurs probably originally built the business and who help it to stay ahead of their competition with their creativity and insight.

ADHD is not a disorder, it is a different neurological type of wiring bringing both challenges and advantages, please ensure you see all aspects of this difference.