The decision to tell family, friends, and loved ones can have surprising and heartbreaking results.
My father was surprisingly easy. Apparently as a child, the ADD diagnosis was given to me along with a prescription for Ritalin, my mom took me off the of Ritalin shortly after starting it because it made me ‘listless’ and not ‘myself’. I remember none of this because I was really young at the time (7 or 
, but my entire life, I struggled with basic acts. I always said that I was “an A student in a C student’s body.” I realized that people who loved me acted out of frustration and, for lack of a better word, ignorance because they knew I could do better. I can tell by your post that you are a bright and articulate person, and I’ve noticed throughout the forum and the site that most of the ADDers on this page are very bright people. That ‘double edged sword’ is more of a hinderance than a help. If we were ‘deficient’ in some way mentally people would just pat us on the head and leave us alone, but we’re always expected to just ‘get over it’, ‘fix it’, ‘grow up!’.
For every person who has supported me or has said they’ve ‘suspected’ it in me all along, there are people who will never truly understand it and who act accordingly. I was recently ‘grilled’ by my well meaning but intrusive step mother about a ‘life plan’, now that I seem to be ‘on my way’ in life. I’ve known this woman for 4 years, I’m 36. I’ve had t-shirts for longer than she’s been in my life, and she chose a car ride to ask me for a Powepoint presentation on my ‘lifeplan’. It didn’t make me feel like she really wanted to understand my problems, it made me feel 3 inches tall. She did go on to say that she believes that my dad has ADD (duh? I always say I’m not the only nut in the tree!) I left the conversation feeling dejected and a little attacked, but I quickly brushed myself off and moved on. It’s not my job to MAKE anyone understand me, I just have to live the best life that I can.
It’s hard to articulate to people who haven’t been through it and when you tell someone “I know what I’m supposed to do, I have complete knowledge of HOW things are supposed to be done but for whatever reason, I just CAN’T do it.” eyes roll, people sigh, demeaning comments are made.
All that I can say is be prepared to be supported by some people and completely let down by others, but try not to let this deter you from your improvement. We’ve spent our entire lives seeing ourselves through other people’s eyes, putting ourselves down because of other people’s judgements. Celebrate even the smallest victories and share them with people who will truly SUPPORT you. The people who don’t understand it, sadly probably never will. Just remember it’s all a journey and you will make great strides and have a few setbacks, but do this for YOU and you can’t go wrong 