Good grades can tell us what someone achieved without showing how much effort, urgency, support or recovery it took to get there. Academic success does not, by itself, rule out ADHD.

ADHD can remain unrecognised for years when its effects are hidden by ability, structure, support, coping strategies or explanations that seem to fit at the time.

Girls and women with ADHD have often been overlooked when their difficulties did not resemble the familiar picture of a disruptive, hyperactive child. Many learned to compensate long before anyone recognised ADHD.

An ADHD diagnosis can change the way you understand experiences that happened long before you had a name for them, bringing recognition, questions and sometimes complicated feelings about the past.

Receiving an ADHD diagnosis does not always make doubt disappear. After years of other explanations, it can take time for a new understanding of yourself to feel believable.

An ADHD diagnosis can bring relief, doubt, sadness, recognition and many other responses, sometimes at the same time. There is no single way you are supposed to feel about finally having an explanation.