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Episode 71 - The Future of ADHD
51 Plays6 months ago
Paul and Martin (ex-mayors of ADHDville) ask: what does the future hold for ADHD? In this episode, we explore how our understanding of ADHD might evolve, from better diagnosis and support to shifting societal attitudes. Will workplaces adapt? Will technology help or hurt? And what about the possibility of a new name—or even a world designed with ADHD brains in mind? Join us as we dive into the possibilities, the challenges, and the hope for a future that finally gets it.
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Put quill to paper and send us an email at: ADHDville@gmail.com
ADHD/Focus music from Martin (AKA Thinking Fish)
Theme music was written by Freddie Philips and played by Martin West. All other music by Martin West.
Please remember: This is an entertainment podcast about ADHD and does not substitute for individualized advice from qualified health professionals.
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Transcript
The Future of ADHD: Changes and Advancements
00:00:00
Speaker
Well, we're back in the room work back back in the room, back in the room, back in the room, literally, right quite literally. This this episode is for anyone with ADHD or in fact, LDHD. um yeah When they kind of think, right, is there nothing more yeah constant than change?
00:00:26
Speaker
But God damn it, man, I'm really screwing up this intro. Basically, we're going to look at the future of ADAD. What's coming down the pike? what yes what's What have we got to look forward to um yeah over the next year, two, three, yeah um in terms of a ADHD? So we're looking into our crystal balls.
00:00:51
Speaker
Yes, like the song by Sam Cooke, a change is going to come. It is going to come. God damn it, you know, it's about time. Exactly. So let's go to a place where the distractions are landmarks and the detours are the main roads.
Welcome to ADHDville
00:01:07
Speaker
Welcome to ADHDville. And welcome to our intro music. It's the intro. It's the intro. Looking about.
00:01:31
Speaker
Hello, I'm I was diagnosed with the combined So we're just two mates who buy a coincidence or not after 39 years of friendship discover that we're co-ADHD-ers. I didn't know that.
00:01:53
Speaker
Hurrah. Now, it's really important to say this is an entertainment podcast about adult ADHD. It does not substitute, no, no, no, for individualized advice from qualified health professionals. So don't take any advice from him. Or him.
00:02:09
Speaker
or me or him where we're here is just kind of as a kind of all inclusive ADHD part bench with room for everyone including your doppelgangers your alter egos your buddy doubles your chaperones and even your best buddies But hold on, hold on, hold on to your britches. What is it? Hold on to your britches? Yeah, something like that. Grab your jet packs, your pediloges, your space hoppers or any other transportation methods and let us take you to ADHDville. Yes. And it makes you tell that we're created in our minds. Where we like to explore different parts of the A, the D, the H and the D again.
00:02:53
Speaker
And we aren't starting off in the mayor's office because i got what because because ah we were unelected.
Hosts' Backgrounds and Personal ADHD Experiences
00:03:01
Speaker
So we're the ex-mayors. So we have taken up with residents in the King's Attentive Head pub.
00:03:15
Speaker
yes which is um which is ah over down in them in the kind of yeah cool part of ADHDville. So we've kind of set up um yeah in the pub with a table and yes and that's where we're doing the podcast from.
00:03:32
Speaker
yes um And we're going to talk about a few things because me and Martin, me and martin you you live you live in the States. I live in Italy. It's one of the few things I really miss is that the Englishness is that pub, the whole thing. You walk into a pub and it's hard to kind of communicate with non-English peeps or maybe you could be an Irishman as well with this kind of culture that that theme experience when you walk into an old pub and there's a like of there's there's a fire cracking crackling and it's like a damp Labrador there's like a smell of damp Labrador by the fire yeah it's all good stuff i do miss ale on tap but
00:04:18
Speaker
Right.
Predicting Individualized ADHD Diagnosis
00:04:19
Speaker
So I think we're going to just kind of hang out in the in the in the pub. um Yes. I think for now. um and we're going to talk So let's talk about the future. Future, future, future, future of ADHD. What you got on your on your list? Where should we start? well I thought the easiest way to so place to start is naming multi naming. I think it's been on my mind for the shit show that is ah the name ADHD. Right. I think it's going to splinter off and it's going to be a bit like, you know, Asperger's went away, you know, and it's just there's just like a big melting pot.
00:05:09
Speaker
of of you know autism and ADHD and all kinds of comorbidities all over the shop. I think it's going to, I think thanks to better diagnosis and technology diagnosing ah autism in general, I think it's going to splinter off and it'll have maybe, it won't be called ADHD anymore. It just splinter off and given not even names, just diagnoses.
00:05:40
Speaker
individualized diagnosis. Well I think they're falling into some categories probably. I'm just kind of looking on on Google about the ah about changing the name of ADHD and there's a lot of articles that pop up in around 2021, 2022, why ADHD should be renamed <unk> so psychology to today. And um so yeah, so it's just it may well change disorder, you know, it's just like, it's just crap. All right. Okay. Next one. but Yeah. Next one.
00:06:22
Speaker
I've got diagnosis and therapies is a biggie, I think. Okay. Yeah. ah At the moment, the diagnosis is a bit of a shit show, right? You know, it's like this kind of like questionnaire, you know, that you could imagine was kind of relevant in, you know, 40 years ago, as a kind of way of diagnosing such an important thing, you know, such a date.
00:06:47
Speaker
such a thing that potentially would change people's lives yeah overnight if they get the diagnosis out of date. And completely random, like you'll hear stories of one person how they got diagnosed with it versus someone else seems like there's a very, very different and broad range of diagnosis tools.
00:07:13
Speaker
Yeah. Right. Methodologies. Yeah. Methodologies. Exactly. I mean, I know that um that in theory, in the US, there are new ah good guidelines coming out for adult diagnosis and treatment called the APA. I'll start again. APS, ARD.
00:07:37
Speaker
ah guidelines. um So that should formulise, at least here in the States, about how you get diagnos diagnosed. And then, in in theory, other countries do tend to kind of like copy and paste ah what's going on here. So maybe in the future, we'll see a much more structured and ah uniform diagnosis.
00:08:02
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
AI as a Tool for ADHD Management
00:08:04
Speaker
It's the, I, if my, my diagnosis felt like a vending machine, I was like, had an appointment, went in, so I asked me a bunch of questions. I was like, okay, next, who's next? Okay. Move along, please. Who's next? You know, that's it. I was, you know, uh, rubber stamped, signed off, like off you go.
00:08:25
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which was all right for me is, you know, diagnosed a 56 year old, but if I was, if someone had diagnosed my son in the same way, I'd be, I'd be spitting blood, you know, if that, if they'd done that, you know, i mean this there is really irresponsible.
00:08:43
Speaker
On the, on the other end of the spectrum is like you hear stories of some people getting diagnosed in it cost and and it takes them six months. It costs them thousands. Yeah. People they're like, I just want something that is like, is just quicker and simpler.
00:09:04
Speaker
Um, yeah. So one, one thing that could happen, not necessarily ah near future, but there's a lot of development in nano robotics, uh, whereby for instance, there's different things out there, right? Um, there's, you know, basically in theory, if you, if you were to have, if the health systems had the money,
00:09:30
Speaker
and the time and the resources to do it. To get a proper diagnosis, you'd get you know hardcore brain scans done. There are...
00:09:41
Speaker
You can, to the trained eye, you can see differences between a neurotypical and neurodiverse people, right? ah um If they've got a trained eye. But this is where technology AI is going to come in because they're already detecting ah using AI to detect ah rather than using the human eye to scan the x-rays. They use AI and it will pick up on any anomalies And it's like, oh, okay, the shape fits in. Okay. Okay. Mr. West, you got this type of um autism.
00:10:22
Speaker
There's also other things, other neurobots that there's a company in India that's actually um tracing ah disease a ah diseases a nano robot that actually goes in there and delivers cumin in micro doses.
00:10:47
Speaker
because cumin currently is like a magic, magic substance. Yeah. Isn't that amazing? Okay. Cumin. I mean, you know, I'm quite happy for... So, you know, you might cure disease, but you'd be stinking of curry. Lovely. I'm quite happy for... Love the smell of curry. To deliver me some nice, some nice pastry.
00:11:19
Speaker
Um, yeah.
00:11:26
Speaker
Obviously, you know as as i AI gets better and better, like it is being used um ah by people who have ADHD to kind of help manage their day. And also, you know by in in in in terms of like, yeah they'll they'll get onto chat, GPT, for example, and they'll type in, right, I've got these things to do,
00:11:54
Speaker
But today, what should my priorities be? what should How much time should I focus on? And you can say you have ADHD enough. You've done it for a while. It kind of learns who you are and how you work. um And it can kind of help.
00:12:09
Speaker
um, help you kind of get through stuff. Also it's, it's starting to be used as a, as a, as a therapist as well. So if you, if you're constantly talking to it and you can, I feel this today, I feel that today in your therapist, um, it can, it can kind of come, you can have a sort of a dialogue with it.
00:12:33
Speaker
right? Which is scary, right? But I guess the same AI, if it's if it's of if it can be used in a responsible way, it would have to have to actually detect whether you're actually ready.
00:12:49
Speaker
Right. Most, because a lot of people, um, I'm talking about neurotypicals here, because I think, we've spoken about this before, but I think neurotypicals, neuro, um, diverse community people generally have need different types of like psychotherapy. I think it's like nuance, you know, it's like, Oh, and that's where AI is perfect. Yeah, yeah. But the best we've got to say, what some people just aren't some people need three years of therapy before that actually can give them really straight, you know, straight up answers, you know, that the some people just not aren't ready for, you know, to have the solution given to them straight up, they need time.
00:13:33
Speaker
Yeah, no. And that's where I think AI is interesting because it in theory can cater for whether you're just curious, whether you're dipping your toes in, whether you're just trying to work through stuff or whether you're looking for hard answers.
00:13:50
Speaker
like in yes Like AI seems to be kind of coming along to the point where you can start having those conversations. um yes so so za So as far as the future goes, that looks like an an interesting, interesting life. Three minute, Martin. Like hard and but particular between hard and soft dances. Some people just want the soft ones.
00:14:13
Speaker
for at least a couple of years. i mean i've So for example, I'll put my thoughts and feelings into it right and and and I'll want it to give me some feedback. And then yeah if I type in, for example, don't spare my feelings, just kind of give it to me really straight angle and yeah and don't disagree with me.
00:14:39
Speaker
disagreed with me if you think you're wrong, and then yeah then you get back a sort of ah a different answer. um yeah So it's and it's it's and it's an interesting into interaction.
00:14:53
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's a yeah i've i've ah did I need to read more into it, but there are people who have already done reviews already. They do they already exist, these
Telehealth's Role in ADHD Care
00:15:05
Speaker
things.
00:15:06
Speaker
ah yeah and And the way things are going on, it's like if we'd had a conversation about AI two years ago, it'd be completely different. In two years, the development has been phenomenal. And I think that's what where what comes into this this conversation is actually funding.
00:15:24
Speaker
i think because people started realizing you make money out of it. It's like with environment issues, everyone talks around, you know, the issue for years, until, you know, they got their heads together, various companies, and it wasn't about for the good of the human being, it's not a good most, if it gets funny, it's not because, you know, of, you know,
00:15:49
Speaker
philanthropic reasons, you know, don't care to give a damn. They do it because there's some money in it. And I think some point, I think with the funding for ADHD and autism, people understand that companies can be much more productive if they have a better scope, better management of their employees, neuro states.
00:16:15
Speaker
I think come down productivity, the funding had come in, be nano robots all over the place. Right, because it it it does feel the whole diagnosis and treatment is is all a little bit Wild West for adult ADHD peeps, all right? So it does feel like its it should be going down more structured and ah individualized thing.
00:16:43
Speaker
All right. Paul's left his chair. He's coming coming back again. moving my wife face closer to the window oh yeah that would be good yeah you and your medieval walls and immediately it's better Isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, it is. yeah um i mean All right. Also, um along with all of that and under that the technology framework,
00:17:18
Speaker
framework um you know um where that if it kind of gets more standardized, it means that um hopefully diagnosis can be a lot quicker because we can use we can use ah we can use a telehealth you know like where you where you video phone yourself into the into the into the into the psychotherapist or the doctors or wherever it is that you're yeah you want to and actually um you know go through the diagnosis process that way
00:17:55
Speaker
ye So you don't even have to, unlike you and me who had to actually leave our houses and go to other but buildings, we can that we can, you know, it, it can be a lot quicker and faster. That one I suppose that if, if most people get is most or the ADHD, and autism is hereditary, I guess that there could be predictive, you know, technology out there's like, okay, ah Mr. And Mrs. West, you know, you've, you've just, ah you know, have a new baby in your life.
Predictive Technology in Education for ADHD
00:18:31
Speaker
jesus ah The fuck? Yeah, and they'll say, they'll this say um okay, in five years time, you should be ready, you'll be ready to, with your diagnosis, AI is already working.
00:18:52
Speaker
uh looking at your genes and the the likely outcome in five six years time that will be your son will need this kind of um education and you can start already starting to like bend and uh adapt to their needs who and that the diagnosis will be so pin and sharp in terms of what their needs will particularly needs will be it will be built into the education system Right. It's like, Oh, Mr. And Mrs. West, your child is going to be probably best suited to homeschooling. Oh, that'd be scary. I don't think so.
00:19:34
Speaker
Um, ah I mean, not and unless it's happy, you know, watch cartoons all day and, and yes, you know, pizza, any particular type of pizza.
00:19:53
Speaker
You know what? What's generally in your pizza carton? What's generally in there? Oh, my. OK, so let's talk pizzas. All right. You're from Italy. Not from Italy, but you're in Italy. You're yeah um the second home of the pizza. Obviously, obviously New York being the absolute home of pizza.
00:20:17
Speaker
I think Paul's like, I don't think so. yeah I don't think so. I don't think you've got your facts wrong there, mate. I like my my favorite pizza. Oh, if it's a good pizza place like proper pizza, it would just be a classic um marinara sauce, a couple of bits with some mozzarella and a bit of a basil and yeah that that's it. ah Nothing the more. Nothing more needed. Overloaded pizzas. Yeah. If I'm eating a shit pizza, it will be mushroom, pineapple,
00:21:06
Speaker
Oh my God. Mushroom, mushroom, onions and pineapple. Wow. Pineapple people. Pineapple. Pineapple. If you ask for pineapple in your pizza here, you'll get, so you but you'll be showed the door. Yeah, well, I mean, if I was in Italy, I wouldn't be eating pineapple pizza. but It's like, what what would be the point?
00:21:29
Speaker
No, there wouldn't be a point. Right.
Impact of Diet on ADHD
00:21:32
Speaker
It's like, i've I think I've said it before, when I lived in China, the worst food I had was if you tried to eat Western food, if you went to a Western food place. Yeah. The worst food.
00:21:45
Speaker
worst. Yeah, yeah. yeah but and when you go but like If like if therapy thing and diagnosis in theory, you'd you'd have if the stomach is the second brain, right? Right. If you had a proper diagnosis, you'd already have, you know, thanks to AI, some intolerance, you know, you know,
00:22:08
Speaker
ah specifically based on your needs. ah think it would What you should eat and shouldn't eat and blah, blah, blah. Yeah, no, yes, yes, no, yes. Which, yeah, which we're kind of coming along, I feel like, you know, where, where what you eat and, you know, your and your mental state in your brain is, you know, like people are starting to kind of put the pieces together, right? And they're starting to go, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, like,
00:22:40
Speaker
These two, tooth you know like your your gut and your brain are not and not separate entities. They actually um influence each other quite quite quite a lot. Yeah, yeah. Because at the moment, we're kind of left to kind of you get your diagnosis, right? um And you're you're you're just like in the wind. you know it's Like trying to, wo you know, it's like you're sort of fumbling in the dark, you know, trying to like, yeah, which is why podcasts like us exist to try and fill the void.
00:23:17
Speaker
Exactly. Feeling the void. Right. Feels like we should put like an echo in there at that point. Feeling the void. Void, void, void, void. On that sort of diagnosing thing, and what will be coming up is that that will be that it will be more individualized and and
Challenges in ADHD Medication and Diagnosis
00:23:44
Speaker
faster. So for example,
00:23:49
Speaker
The average human has 2.5 different medications in order to kind of like try to work out what one works best, right? And you have to kind of take it for a while and have to go through that Pallava and then you have to kind of yeah check in and then it's like, you know, you might kind of go up a dose, up a dose, up a dose and try to find your levels. And all of this takes quite a while.
00:24:13
Speaker
Yeah. And it's not exactly paracetamol, this stuff, you know. No, no. it' In Italy, for example, I get a special prescription. It's all written in red. And when I go into the pharmacy to to order it, people look at me sideways. Oh, whoa. ah power good goop be my ba It's in red. It's in the red. He's crazy. great Don't look in his eyes. He will turn you into a beetroot.
00:24:46
Speaker
Or worse. um yeah that's a but That's how that goes. um Yeah. Yeah. No. I'm kind of... it's its stoped We're not playing around with, you know, paracetamol. We're talking about, yeah, we're kind of like being tested, you know, guinea pigs, like, oh, let's see how this works. And you go along with it. Right. now Yeah. Which in the States will be quite often who you have as your drug manufacturer, like who, who you're, you know, not is this like who you're paid to give drugs from, but, but they have relationships with different drug manufacturers, which means you make it at all, you make it via events. you yeah get I mean, like, you know, like, so where they start, you may, may not necessarily be about you. And we might just be about, you know, what, what they're comfortable with, I guess.
00:25:43
Speaker
yeah yeah i mean i don't think it's that different in no i don't well i don't think in in uh europe they're so the doctors are so um tied into yeah um drug company for sure Yeah, but I mean, just to kind of like underline all that. So um yeah, so recent studies do indicate that individualized testing can minimize trial and error. So hopefully we will we will take a little bit of a yeah, that will that will improve.
00:26:18
Speaker
What's next on your list? Mr. Paolo. Don't give me those beetroot eyes. Given that we're talking about AI, let's talk about technology. okay Like, for instance, this is more like immediate future stuff. There's a new um Apple AirPods, AirPod Pro 2. Have you looked into this? No. No. Is it a scam? I don't know.
00:26:47
Speaker
but um if they're really expensive but it could be worth trying ah or there could be something for the future. you know If you're like me and you really really struggle with ambient noise ah and kind of um you know working in you know noisy environments and stuff, the technology if there was a technology and it's not there yet, but Apple are working on it for sure with noise counselling, um but also um you know devices you can put in your ear um to improve your hearing.
00:27:30
Speaker
Right. um Yeah. And so it's less, less kind of problems dealing with, you know, um for me, it's, it's can caused me a lot of anxiety in certain environments. So those things in e exist, right? So we've got the noise cancelling headphones, we've we've got the little ring things you put put in your ear.
00:27:52
Speaker
Mm hmm. So you can go and buy those today. Yeah. Yeah. But it's it's but Apple, or the new Apple AirPods Pro 2, you go find out for yourself, there's a lot of reviews in them in terms of ah Apple AirPod Pro 2 and ADHD, for instance, and how they they can actually help you. But they're 250 euros. So it's a lot of money.
00:28:20
Speaker
And I will lose one. Like give me about two weeks and I will have lost one. Yeah. Yeah. And there's also the thing about actually Bluetooth is really bad for our brains. Oh, hang on.
00:28:38
Speaker
OK. Hello. Hello. His boat Bluetooth is bad for our brains, apparently. OK. I know that having worked in that in the Bluetooth industry, I know that that's something that is said quite a bit. Yeah. um Without necessarily out there for years, like, you know, the use of cell phones.
00:29:02
Speaker
um and how the and how it affects badly affects your brain potentially. And then it totally disappeared, the conversation. Right. I mean, like, maybe someone who listens to this knows more. But I mean, yeah, I felt like it was there wasn't any evidence that that supported it, that it was just kind of like one of those rumors and myths that that that that people talk, talk, talk, talk about. But um I don't know. There was a time, I don't know, going back 15 years, then people were making trousers that had special pockets in them for men, because if you put your cell phone in your pocket, it could potentially affect your, um your tackle, your, you know, your, your smoke count and your, his count you know, yeah. Yeah.
00:29:57
Speaker
I know. I mean, we i should completely disappeared without any explanations like, oh, no, it was false. It was correct. It was somewhere between. All right. If anyone's got any, any, anything on that, then please link link us to it. But as far as I'm aware, it came up as a question, ran around for a while. There wasn't any evidence and it just died, died away by and large. But but but we don't know because that because we you know how you know you get companies that um they what do they call it they employ people to lobby lobbies and they make these these discussions disappear you know yeah yeah but they can't do it globally necessarily but they're not everyone no but they could be quite effective
00:30:47
Speaker
All right, well, if anyone as I said, if anyone's got any any any real good evidence either either way, then um oh then we're all ears. Yes. So there let's move on. It kind of stays, it's probably going to stay in technology.
00:31:04
Speaker
But not not exactly. Therapy, right? Have you heard of this therapy? There's a podcast this week with Winford Doar, who's actually worked in both in the States and in ah the UK.
00:31:18
Speaker
um he's he's talking about, um you can do um some really simple, there there's a 10 minute exercise you can do twice daily, which basically involves balancing acts that you can do, you kind of stand on one leg, and it's kind of a, um and you you basically, he says that you can train your brain to be less affected by ADHD, um and other, and, or, and, ah
00:31:50
Speaker
ah by but and ah and co-morbid... Yeah, co-morbidities. Co-morbidities like dyslexia. He says it works. He has ADHD for instance. the And he stands on one leg. He stands on one leg and he does something and I don't know.
00:32:11
Speaker
um and he's been working on this for the last 15 years and he sounds skeptical yes and you can do this very skeptical yeah but he was on another podcast this week on a very popular but pop one, the most popular podcast in the UK, for sure, or one of the top two. And he was on it um he is utterly convinced about this. And he does, he has spent like 15 million pounds of his own money, or probably more on on actually and years of research on this.
00:32:49
Speaker
It sounds super dubious to me. It does sound dubious, doesn't it? But yeah, keep keep ah one eye ah open on it, I guess. Yeah, but you know, who knows if there doesn't have to be a technological thing. Maybe some people will find, you know, ah more human, non-technologically but based therapies that it can be like really beneficial, they's actually quite simple.
00:33:17
Speaker
one weird trick. That's what it feels like. thoses One weird trick. ah All right. I'll tell you what might be a weird thing. GLP ones.
00:33:34
Speaker
GLP ones. Have you heard of GLP ones, Mr. Thompson? Okay, so they are um they are prescribed for people who are overweight to suppress their appetite.
00:33:52
Speaker
Right. ah um it's an in in it's It's an injection you have every every week um and it kind of all that food noise kind of dampens down and goes away. um And what they've been finding is is that if you have is that it's also very good for lots of other things like all this um anecdotal um ah stuff has come back where, so for example, people who who would drink a lot suddenly had no desire to drink. um People with ADHD, their impulse
00:34:39
Speaker
stuff went away. So you don't have this sort of this impulse this impulsiveness to kind of do things, that it quietened it down.
00:34:51
Speaker
okay So there's so there's quite a little there's quite a lot of interest currently in in small doses of GRP1 kind of just um stopping that stopping that that that that said that er dopamine um ah that's dopamine addiction.
00:35:18
Speaker
So at that that's what I'm trying to trying to get to. So it it kind of ah suppresses that. So that's a very interesting thing that is going on at the moment. Interesting. Okay.
ADHD in Prisons: A Path to Rehabilitation
00:35:35
Speaker
Yeah. I've got here, let's talk about, this isn't a subject, it's not one of the sexiest sides of ADHD.
00:35:47
Speaker
But it's a massive, potentially massive part in the future, the prison systems. Basically, oozing with ADHD, people who, it's really easy to talk about, you know, intellectualize about people, you know, how they call call some people with ADHD, people that perform, not perform, but high performing ah ADHD or or oh yeah or or high performing autistic people. There are people that are the opposite end to that. You know, they've been dealt a shit um shit a really bad hand um and and they're in the prison system. Apparently, you could virtually and i'm not say an empty the prison system. You could have the prison community of people that are just
00:36:44
Speaker
dealt a really shit hand. They've got ADHD or autism or both. um And they just couldn't deal with society. They kicked off. No one ah wanted to help them and even worse to get thrown in. This is the worst part about our society, you know, in 2025.
00:37:05
Speaker
you know, talk about the future. You know, this, this concept of just throw these bad people in, you know, rabbit ears, throw them into the prison, forget about them, you know, and it's just an absolute, it's embarrassing. It's disgusting. There is rather a lot of, of ah mental health issues.
00:37:30
Speaker
ah Yeah, they say that the prison community probably may be as much as 80% of prisoners have ADHD, autism or both. I mean, it's huge. We're talking massive numbers.
00:37:50
Speaker
that are just forgotten people, forgotten at school, you know, already off on a bad foot, you know, trauma traumatized by their parents because they couldn't deal with an autistic kid that was kicking off. ah They got into criminality, you know, at an early age and they they go boom, you know. All right, so that's ah the state now. So that's the state now. What would be the the future?
00:38:17
Speaker
Well, um the future is um the future and immediate future. there was ah There's a lady who's built work for years and years and years in the prison system. um She said at the very minimum, there should be obligatory um ADHD diagnosis or autism diagnosis when they enter the prison system.
00:38:37
Speaker
All right, just doing that, just doing that. There are people right now that in English prison system, they don't get tested. And even if they went into the prison system and they had already diagnosis for ADHD or autism, they're not allowed to have access to their meds.
00:38:54
Speaker
right Right. So we're kind of saying that as part of your rehabilitation back into society would be right. Well, if we know that you're autistic or you're ADHD, we can start to treat that so that actually you're better so supported on the on the outside.
00:39:17
Speaker
Yeah, there's a support system you don't, you know, you know, you can start understanding your brain already before they've, you know, ah left prison, or maybe they could go into like, ah not necessarily a full kind of prison kind of environment, they could go into some other concept of, you know, prison, you know, that is much more therapy based. Yeah.
00:39:44
Speaker
The prison system is a shit show. It's really bad. you know and it's um It's a very unsexy thing and no one wants to talk about it. um yeah um But it's if you know if there's a sign, but the key we can only judge our societies based on how we treat the you know the um ah more how could i say the more vulnerable people in society. right That's why we judge ourselves.
00:40:12
Speaker
not by, you know, how many billionaires we have. um Absolutely. All right.
Addressing ADHD in Women, Girls, and Late Diagnoses
00:40:19
Speaker
um I also have, as as far as I ignored people, the, you know, that there that there will be better future diagnosing for women.
00:40:32
Speaker
and girls, yeah because obviously ADHD has tended to be focused on male boys. So actually, so as we go down in the future, yeah women and girls will be hopefully much better and understood.
00:40:48
Speaker
um um And then also, you and me, Paul, late late diagnosed people. Yes. Right, hu there is, I don't think there is any research that I've found that is about, you know, diagnosis or treatment um for us elderly, home old people, for us oldies, for us more mature gentlemen and ladies.
00:41:17
Speaker
it's a good point well put there is literally nothing yeah literally nothing it's a good point well put yeah Yeah. Yeah. And of course, I mean, talk about forgotten generation. Are you kidding me? It's not a forgotten generation. it's It's worse than a forgotten our generation. It's just like, you know, are people older than us, you know, why not be diagnosed at 80 years old, you know, um yeah why not? Absolutely. Yeah.
00:41:51
Speaker
All right, well, I'm i'm out, so i've I've gone through everything on my list. What's left on yours? Last thing on my list is the school system.
Revolutionizing Education for Neurodiverse Students
00:42:00
Speaker
We've kind of touched on it, you know, in terms of how schools could be ah better suited for the neurodiverse community.
00:42:12
Speaker
ah One of the it does need radical change, but the schooling system, even for neuro-based people, needs to be radically changed anyway. It's a freaking dinosaur, the system. Even if, because if you want to go back to episode 43,
00:42:30
Speaker
of our podcast. It was a great episode when we talked to Seth Davidson about how um autism is treated ah managed not treated managed in and and in his school. And it's an eye opener. It's an absolute eye opener.
00:42:51
Speaker
It's amazing. Really, really cool. I've got quite emotional listening to it. It just blew me away because um I'm ah really happy that, you know, Seth has that kind of score and he has that the opportunity and the privilege to work in that kind of environment. But that's less than 0.01% of scores in the world or less.
00:43:15
Speaker
I can personally say that I teach in the school it schools in Italy. It's not on the radar. I mean, yeah literally, I've been teaching for a year and ive in that year I've taught um over a thousand students in that year, different students, never once has there been a discussion about neurodiversity. yeah Not one time, not one time.
00:43:44
Speaker
yeah for sure. and so Come on. But it shouldn't be I think they're scared of it most scared of it. But this should what I want to see in the near future, hopefully, is that it's actually it's actually not about causing complicating the teachers lives or the systems like it's actually an amazing opportunity.
Funding and Efficiency in ADHD Diagnosis Processes
00:44:09
Speaker
An incredible opportunity. Yeah.
00:44:13
Speaker
Um, so that's my yeah. All right. I mean, I just want to finish up by for those people who I can hear screaming at me because, um, because in the near future, but like what we really want to see is, is that it can take people a long time to get a diagnosis. Right. You kind of hear from UK that it's like,
00:44:39
Speaker
Well great, all this stuff, but you know, yeah it it can be a year or so before I kind of get any any anywhere with with all this. So, you know, so i'm I'm hoping that the funding um is there, that that there is better ah more efficient ways to kind of get through the whole backlog of people who are just waiting yeah on on ah on on their bliss.
00:45:06
Speaker
totally And there is less confusion because it just seems to be you know like even even in the ADHD and the autistic ah profession, there just seems to be a lack of... Those same people, glo like frustrated, not getting a diagnosis, but also those who have been diagnosed, just talk about ADHD in traditional press at the moment. There's only last week in the Times the most despicable, disgusting article about ADHD. In the Times? In the Times, yeah. Strangely right-wing, who'd have thought it. But they're just there's still doubters out there, despite
00:45:54
Speaker
you know, mountains of evidence. There's still the doubters that are saying, oh, it's just people that are, you know, ah you know, they're just like victims and, ah etc, etc. It's just disgusting. Right. Because we had like, it's, you know, there should be I don't, I don't want that to get to a point where we need to have a law against those that kind of things, you know, like there is against racism or, you know,
00:46:22
Speaker
But ah we had to get to that point, should it? So the date, I don't know where they caught this, but the Daily Mail ran an article yeah um called people like us, sick fluencers, right? And they pulled up Maddie, who was a guest.
00:46:46
Speaker
ah yeah mad mema says So though they pulled her up as an example of a sick fluencer. Really? Yeah, on the Daily Mail, I sent her a ah sent her rate a a comment, a a message that that basically said, well, if you're if you're managing to scare the the Daily Mail, then you're doing something right. Exactly.
00:47:14
Speaker
ah Exactly. Daily Mail just the worst. that they They make me want to vomit these those people. Just horrendous. Oh my God. Yeah, I hadn't heard that.
00:47:29
Speaker
yeah i it's It's weird. We now go back to my home country and I'm on the undergrad and I see people with their newspapers, you know, reading their newspapers in the morning and you just see this to toxic journalism everywhere. So yeah, but that gets us on maybe to the last point. We are on a trajectory towards right-wing politics, like it or not.
00:47:53
Speaker
wherever you are in the world at this moment, the trajectory is in that way, even in Germany, incredibly. um The trajectories say, oh you go people watching, listening to this podcast say, you know, guys, you're kind of like, your head is in the sand, there's like an elephant in a room. Things could get worse, actually, that we've become more manageized marginalized, we'll get less funding.
00:48:20
Speaker
um Not only would get less funding would be, you know, given the example you gave the Daily Mail and the Sunday Times, um you know, ridiculed, openly ridiculed.
00:48:35
Speaker
yeah So that's the reality at the moment. So that could be um batten batten down the down the hatches. So the yeah future of of ADHD really um could go either way. I suspect it's going to get worse in some ways and better than than others. and Hopefully, science will win out in the end. um I think your point was right that you made to Maddie, that if you're pissing off the Daily Mail, you're doing something right. Mm hmm. Yeah, exactly. All right. Cool. With that, um you know what, let's jump in the tractor. Yes. Oh, the truck and we'll and we'll head over to the ah post post post office.
00:49:22
Speaker
So I'm just bring it up. Here we go. Get in. oh guy are
00:49:37
Speaker
Can't beat enough diesel. Mm hmm.
00:49:43
Speaker
Ooh, blimey. There we go. So yes, we're the post bag. We're still in the pub, I suppose, but we've got the post bag, so I'm just going to draw it in. No, we were in the pub. We've gone to the post office, Paul. Oh, OK. OK. Which is next door to the post office, which is really convenient.
00:50:01
Speaker
I don't know why I really bothered to ah to actually get the tractor just just just to go next door. but you relax down yeah you know i i like to kind of it's a good sound Yeah. um So this is a good time to say to you, dear listeners, that your feedback is and is vital to us. And we read all your comments and read them out loud and embarrass you. No, not really. ah read them Read them on future podcasts. And for instance, as an example, we've got this feedback here, which is great. She actually put this up on ah YouTube.
00:50:39
Speaker
youtube um miss miss diagnosed phoenix as she put it on the you on the tube of the u as she put it with her southern american twang which is lovely accent by the way um she's talking about uh the one of the recent podcasts when marty was talking about when he borrowed the boss's car yeah and not realizing that he'd left the handbrake on for left yeah the some task might break on
00:51:10
Speaker
ye Yeah. Yeah. For how much time did you leave it on for before you? Everything. So out of that thing, like i ah it was, I'm thinking about it, if it was about two miles. God, that's a lot though. Yeah.
00:51:29
Speaker
That's what, five kilometers. That's a lot. And what gave it away was the smell of like burning. It was the smoke. I just looked out the rear view mirror and just saw smoke and I was like, oh my God, I'm on fire. I was like, what the hell is going on? And then I looked down and realized I had the parking brake on. And yeah, anyway, anyway, on with her comment.
00:51:53
Speaker
So Miss Miss diagnosed Phoenix. Yes. So she was saying that she did the same thing with her her Ford Explorer. But you did what you didn't say, if you give us some ah ah info on that is all I know is it's still running. Did you you know, did you kind of like what happened to your Ford Explorer? She said it was a really expensive car. What happened? What happened to Ford Explorer? Did it stop exploring?
00:52:21
Speaker
From that that point, it's an explorer. Yeah. um or Also, we've had some I mean, we we have really great comments from Alexandra um on our on our on our YouTube. um Yes. Definitely ah a a a great... um She always adds really great comments on it. um Yeah. It's like become our unofficial ambassador.
00:52:53
Speaker
for you know right days t So, you know, I kind of want to say, Alexandra, if you do like have a laptop and a camera. Yes, totally. You are welcome. You are welcome yes to come on here and just chat about whatever. Absolutely. So that offer is is is out out there.
00:53:20
Speaker
I also have a ah nice andout comment um from Cheesy Binos, who lives in Scotland. I think she lives just somewhere around Glasgow. I think the south of Glasgow, somewhere around there.
00:53:37
Speaker
um and she was telling me today that she listened to two of our episodes and she thought it was it was it was good and it was interesting so um that was good because you know We are English and she's Scottish and, you know, wow. in this And the Scots don't often really like the English. And, yeah and you know, if if you know your history, you can really understand why. And it's a valid, valid thing. So the fact that that she actually did, has started to listen to the pod and and and and she thought it was good. So what if it's any.
00:54:23
Speaker
If it helps our Scottish audience, I ah have had my DNA examined and I do come from the Scottish borders. A chunk of my DNA comes from there and I do have a kilt. Jesus. What is it like a Thompson clan kilt? What what is it? What is it? It's not Thompson because that would be crap because the Thompson tartan is actually, you know Burberry, the pattern. Yeah. Yeah. that is actually um its real name is Thompson. Yeah. Okay. Wow. I could wear a a Burberry kilt and it would be authentically a Thompson clan. Okay. But it looks shit. So I've got I have a kilt, but it's not actually linked to my clan. Oh, I see. I just like the color of it.
00:55:12
Speaker
you You just picked it because you liked it. Yeah, and it's a my vintage. It's a vintage hunting kill. Waste of time. So my family, there's a whole bunch in like Orkney oh Island. Oh, fabulous. So that's quite proper north. Oh yes. And also no Norwegian.
00:55:36
Speaker
Yes, ah me too. I'm 36% Scandinavian. Right. So was actually was quite far south as far as yeah we were concerned at one one point. Southern softies in Glasgow.
00:55:59
Speaker
Right. But but no, that's not me. But anyway, so, um yeah, anyway, if you if you if you have a comment, please, ah please do that. Don't forget to like and subscribe and all that that good stuff. Are we going to do that out out outro now? Is this is this is this the time went up when I when I push the out outro button? Yeah.
00:56:24
Speaker
All right. Let me go. All right. women That up slightly. Here we go. All right, so it just leaves me to say and click the button that ADHDville is delivered fresh every Tuesday to all purveyors of fine podcasts. Please subscribe to the pod and rate us most magnificent. Feel free to comment in the comments. Correspond in the comments. That's what I was supposed to say. But wait, there is more if you wish to see how beautiful
00:56:58
Speaker
beautiful places then you can sally ADHDville dot.com but in the meantime be fucking kind to yourself And I message you fellow ADHDers. Know thyself. Son of the