A Life Behind Labels

Disorganised, lazy, unfocused, uninterested – Henry lived accepting these character flaws were just the way he was. Now he’s peeling back the labels for a later-in-life renaissance.

All his life, from childhood through his teens to adulthood, Henry wondered what was wrong with him, because that’s what everyone told him. Enthusiastic, optimistic, full of energy, his initial successes would meet with a slow decline until the next new passion came along.

Growing up in the sixties and seventies, no one – not parents, teachers, employers – understood or recognised what is now know as ADHD. Like others with this neurodivergence, Henry was called lazy, disorganized, uninterested, hyperactive – a boy not living up to his potential, a man whose his talents were hidden behind the labels applied to him.

Attending an ADHD conference when in his late 40s, Henry encountered people who were just like him – his tribe. But his enthusiasm was crushed when a Harley Street consultant informed him he didn’t have ADHD because he was too focused.

Henry’s story will resonant with the substantial contigent of men and woman who also grew up during a time when society didn’t understand how their brains worked and dismissed their differences as character flaws.