ADHD and dyslexia are still cloaked in a thin skin of stereotypes

CHRIS PACKHAM FEELS THAT NEURODIVERGENT PEOPLE ARE OFTEN MISUNDERSTOOD.

- BY CAMILLA FOSTER

“Our consensus was that ADHD and dyslexia are still cloaked in a thin skin of stereotypes, which means that people really just don’t get what they are about,” says the 63-year-old TV presenter.

“So, it was a logical step for us to do what we could, using the tools that we involved in our first series to help those communities as much as we had succeeded, it seems, in helping the autistic community.

“Being a neurodiverse person means that there is already a sense of community there, because some of the struggles that you go through in dyslexia, ADHD, Tourette's, or ASD are going to be parallel, [for example] the difficulties you face when you're younger, the lack of understanding, the inability to communicate the way that the condition is impacting you because you can’t articulate that as a young person or as a child.”

Episode one of the new series, which focuses on ADHD, follows the stories of Hertfordshire-based Jo, 51, who was diagnosed with the attention disorder aged 49 when she was going through menopause.

We also meet London-based tour guide Henry, 23, who was diagnosed aged 17.

Throughout the episode, Henry talks about the frustration of regularly forgetting to attend important appointments, and shares that his main motive for taking part in the programme was to show his parents and sister just how much his ADHD affects his everyday life.