Not trendy. Just named. 🔗 **Source:** [Not trendy. Just named.](https://www.samalderson.co.uk/life-and-energy/not-trendy-just-named/) > [!note]+ Document Notes > ```markdown > > --- > tags: [ADHD, neurodiversity, mental-health] > author: Sam Alderson > source: samalderson.co.uk > reference: [https://www.samalderson.co.uk/life-and-energy/not-trendy-just-named/] > date created: 2026-02-19 10:00 > > --- > > # 🏷️ Title: Not trendy. Just named. > <!-- deep-read:sections start --> ## 🧭 Table of Contents - [📝 Summary](#-summary) - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) - [📚 References](#-references) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ### 🔗 References - Alderson, Sam. “Not trendy. Just named.” https://www.samalderson.co.uk/life-and-energy/not-trendy-just-named/ ## 📝 Summary - What happened: The author explains why the phrase “everyone’s a bit ADHD” is minimizing, and describes the relief and grief of naming ADHD. - Why it matters: Naming ADHD enables self-understanding, access to support, and challenges stigma and trivialisation. - Key stakeholders: ADHD and neurodivergent people, clinicians, families, workplaces, and anyone offering “comforting” comments. - Risks and tradeoffs: Minimising language undermines access to accommodations; over-pathologising everyday traits is also a risk. - Bottom line: ADHD isn’t a trend; language reveals pre-existing realities and should be used with care and belief. ## 📖 Main Content - The article opens by critiquing “everyone’s a bit ADHD,” which feels like reassurance but actually “dilutes” and shifts responsibility back onto the ADHD person. - Alderson distinguishes ordinary human forgetfulness from ADHD, which is when difficulties “pattern” across contexts and “cost you: time, money, health, relationships, self-trust.” - Diagnosis and terminology are framed as a “map, not a label to show off,” providing language such as executive dysfunction, time blindness, working memory issues, emotional dysregulation, hyperfocus, sensory overwhelm, and rejection sensitivity. - The piece argues that increased ADHD talk reflects cracked silence and wider access to information, not a sudden epidemic or social fad. - The author critiques systems that recognise loud/disruptive ADHD but miss quieter, masked forms, especially where traits are misread as laziness, quirkiness, or anxiety. - Masking is described as the “performance of being fine” across physical, social, and logistical domains, often mistaken for competence while draining the person and leading to delayed crashes. - Naming ADHD surfaces grief: recognising that earlier understanding could have meant “support instead of scolding” and reduced shame, especially when reflecting on childhood self. - The article suggests alternatives to “everyone’s a bit ADHD,” such as “That makes sense. Thank you for telling me,” and emphasises listening, belief, and curiosity. - It concludes that naming doesn’t create ADHD; it reveals longstanding realities. Belief is framed as “the starting point,” not a reward. ### 🗒️ Notes - “Everyone’s a bit ADHD” is presented as a superficially kind but ultimately dismissive phrase that erases the scale and impact of ADHD-related challenges. - ADHD is defined functionally: persistent patterns of difficulty that show up across settings and impose tangible costs, not occasional absent-mindedness. - Powerful metaphor: “the difference between tripping on a step and living on a staircase with missing rungs” captures chronic vs. incidental difficulty. - ADHD terminology provides validation and shared language: - Executive dysfunction: wanting to act vs. being able to start. - Time blindness: distorted sense of duration and passage. - Working memory issues: thoughts “drop mid-sentence like it’s buffering.” - Emotional dysregulation: small triggers become “full-body events.” - Hyperfocus: superpower-like until it backfires (dehydration, lateness). - Sensory overwhelm: everyday noise as “sandpaper.” - Rejection sensitivity: neutral cues triggering spirals. - Social media can act as a mirror, giving visceral “get the fuck out of my head” moments when strangers describe one’s internal experience. - Increased ADHD discourse is attributed to: - Wider access to information. - Public “comparing notes.” - Increased help-seeking. - Reframing struggles from moral failure to neurological difference. - Systems are biased toward recognising disruptive presentations (restlessness, talkativeness) and overlooking: - Daydreaming. - Perfectionism. - Anxiety. - “Bright but not applying themselves.” - Constant private effort to appear “normal.” - Society “rewards masking and punishes disruption,” then is surprised when masked individuals burn out or start to unmask. - Masking dimensions: - Physical: forced eye contact, stillness, steady voice despite discomfort. - Social: rehearsed speech, self-editing, moderation of enthusiasm. - Logistical: complex scaffolding of lists, alarms, apps, routines. - From the outside, masking can read as organisation and “high functioning”; internally it’s “white-knuckling it,” shrinking life to make it manageable. - Costs of masking appear as: - Post-social “crash.” - Burnout. - Shame after missed replies. - Panic behaviours (e.g., panic-cleaning before guests). - Constant mental inventory. - The author notes the tension between external praise for capability and internal fear of being “found out.” - Naming ADHD changes social dynamics: some people soften, some relate, some scoff, trivialising the disclosure like “a new hobby.” - The phrase “everyone’s a bit ADHD” can feel like being told you “misunderstood your own life” and over-dramatised genuine struggle. - Grief centres on: - Lost years of self-blame for a “moral problem” that was neurological. - Missed opportunities for understanding and support. - The imagined alternate life if someone had said early on, “you’re not broken, your brain just works differently.” - The author imagines “support instead of scolding” and “strategies instead of shame,” including earlier learning that: - Needing help isn’t moral failure. - Rest isn’t laziness. - Struggling isn’t doing life “wrong.” - Emotional tone oscillates between sadness and anger, “braided together,” about both past and present. - Recommended responses instead of minimising: - “That makes sense. Thank you for telling me.” - “Do you want to tell me what it looks like for you?” - “Is there anything that helps day to day?” - “I believe you.” - Relating is framed as acceptable; overwriting is not. People should resist the reflexive “me too” and choose curiosity. - Final thesis: ADHD is “not trendy. Just named.” Naming reveals, doesn’t invent; people are finally getting “the right legend for their map.” - Call to action: retire “everyone’s a bit ADHD” while keeping curiosity and compassion, and recognise that belief should be the default stance. ## 📚 References - Sam Alderson – “Not trendy. Just named.” https://www.samalderson.co.uk/life-and-energy/not-trendy-just-named/ - General ADHD definitions and criteria (e.g., DSM-5, ICD-11) for context on diagnostic patterns and functional impairment. - Research on masking and camouflaging in neurodivergent populations (ADHD and autism) for the concept of performance vs. internal experience. - Work on rejection sensitive dysphoria and emotional dysregulation in ADHD. ## 🗣️ Paraphrase - Paragraph A paraphrase: The author pushes back against the casual idea that “everyone’s a bit ADHD,” explaining that ADHD is not everyday forgetfulness but a consistent pattern of struggles that deeply affect life. - Paragraph B paraphrase: They describe how getting the ADHD label provided a much-needed map, unlocked language for previously shame-filled behaviours, and exposed grief for years spent blaming themselves instead of being supported. ## 📰 Newsletter In this week’s note, we step outside core WordPress topics to highlight a powerful essay by Sam Alderson on ADHD and naming neurodivergence. It’s a timely reminder that the labels we use in docs, interfaces, and community spaces can either minimise or validate lived experience. When you’re crafting plugin copy, onboarding flows, or support replies, consider how your language supports users who rely on structure, clarity, and belief—not dismissal. For more on inclusive UX in WordPress, see: - WordPress Accessibility Handbook: https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/handbook/ - Learn.WordPress.org courses on inclusive design: https://learn.wordpress.org/ ## ✅ Action Items #### DevRel - Clarify internal language guidelines so advocates avoid minimising neurodivergent experiences in talks, docs, and support. - Add an inclusivity module to developer workshops that covers masking, executive dysfunction, and time blindness. - Provide example snippets of validating language for GitHub issues, support forums, and documentation. #### OSPO - Incorporate inclusive-neurodiversity language guidance into contribution policies and codes of conduct. - Ensure project governance recognises the impact of time blindness and masking on contribution patterns and expectations. #### Community - Train moderators to spot and discourage dismissive phrases like “everyone’s a bit X” in forums and chats. - Offer low-pressure, asynchronous contribution paths that work better for people managing energy and executive function. #### WordPress - Core: Encourage issue templates and discussions to be respectful of different working styles and response times. - Core Performance: Consider cognitive load when designing performance tools and UIs (clear feedback, minimal surprises). - Core AI: Add responsible-AI guidance about avoiding pathologising or trivialising mental health in AI-generated content. - **Core Program Team:** Include neurodiversity awareness in contributor mentorship and team rituals. - Mobile: Provide notification controls and batch actions to reduce overwhelm for users with sensory and attentional challenges. - Playground: Use Playground for “practice runs” of workflows with simplified steps for users who rely on clear scaffolding. - Community: Update event playbooks to suggest quiet spaces and schedule buffers to help with masking fatigue. - Training: Add content on neurodiversity-aware teaching to Learn WordPress materials. - Marketing: Avoid using mental health labels metaphorically in campaigns (“OCD about design,” etc.). - Support: Create macros emphasising belief and validation for users describing overwhelm or confusion. - Design: Favour predictable layouts, reduced clutter, and clear affordances to reduce cognitive friction. - Documentation: Include short, stepwise summaries and checklists for users who need explicit structure. - Photos: Choose imagery that includes subtle representation of disabled/neurodivergent people where appropriate. - TV: Encourage caption quality and optional transcripts for talks about mental health and productivity. - Polyglots: Pay attention to how neurodiversity terms translate to avoid stigmatizing language. - Accessibility: Treat cognitive and neurodivergent access needs as core, not “nice-to-have.” - Meta: Ensure .org contributor tools support drafts, reminders, and save states for people with executive dysfunction. - CLI: Provide clear examples and guardrails to avoid footguns for distracted users. - Hosting: Offer defaults that reduce configuration overload for new site owners. - Tide: Communicate scoring in plain language, avoiding shaming tone. - Openverse: Ensure search and filtering UIs minimise sensory overload. - Themes: Promote theme patterns with clean, low-clutter designs as accessible defaults. - Plugins: Encourage authors to avoid attention-hijacking UI (aggressive popups, animations). #### The WPOCC - Programs: Include neurodivergent maintainers in fellowship and stipend design and feedback. - Projects: Run governance clinics that explicitly discuss inclusive norms and expectations around responsiveness and “professionalism.” - Funding experiments: Consider grants that support rest, accessibility work, and documentation for neurodivergent contributors. ### FAIR - Technical independence: Document provenance and change history clearly so contributors with time blindness can reorient quickly. - Policies and covenants: Embed commitments not to weaponise diagnostic labels or contribution gaps. - Productized governance artifacts: Offer templates with plain-language summaries and visual aids for cognitively accessible governance. ## 🧪 Hypotheses - H1: Access to ADHD-relevant language (executive dysfunction, time blindness) increases self-compassion and reduces internalised shame among adults. - H2: People who engage in heavy masking report higher burnout and lower life satisfaction, even when externally rated as “high functioning.” - H3: Minimising phrases like “everyone’s a bit ADHD” correlate with lower willingness to provide accommodations. - H4: Quiet/inattentive ADHD presentations are diagnosed later than hyperactive/impulsive presentations, controlling for basic demographics. - H5: Validating responses (“I believe you”) increase help-seeking behaviour compared with minimising or overly-relating responses. ### 📊 Methodology - H1: Cross-sectional survey of adults with ADHD diagnosis; measure exposure to ADHD psychoeducation, self-compassion scales, and shame scales. - H2: Mixed-methods study combining masking questionnaires, burnout inventories, and qualitative interviews. - H3: Experimental vignette study where participants read disclosures with varied responses, then report attitudes toward accommodations. - H4: Retrospective chart review comparing age of diagnosis by presentation type (inattentive vs combined vs hyperactive). - H5: Randomised online experiment presenting different listener responses to an ADHD disclosure and measuring help-seeking intentions. ### ❓ Questions - How does online ADHD discourse shift people’s self-understanding before formal diagnosis? - In what ways does masking differ across genders, cultures, and socioeconomic contexts? - How can institutions distinguish between normal variability and clinically meaningful ADHD without trivialising either? - What conversational scripts most effectively support newly diagnosed adults? ### 🔮 Future Research - Longitudinal studies on the impact of receiving an ADHD diagnosis in adulthood on work, relationships, and mental health. - Research on culturally specific expressions and masking strategies of ADHD in non-Western contexts. - Design frameworks for low-friction tools that support executive function without pathologising users. - Intervention studies on training families and workplaces in validating communication strategies. ### 💡 Implications - Practice: Clinicians and coaches should foreground validating language and explicitly address masking and grief in ADHD assessments and follow-up. - Policy: Education and workplace policies must recognise non-disruptive ADHD presentations and support accommodations beyond behaviour management. - Security: Not central here, but stress and burnout can affect attention to security tasks and error rates. - Education: Schools should offer psychoeducation on neurodiversity, including the difference between everyday distractibility and ADHD. - Funding: Prioritise grants for research and community programs that centre neurodivergent voices and lived experience. ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment - Reading level estimate: Approximately B2/C1 (upper-intermediate to advanced) by CEFR; informal but conceptually dense and emotionally nuanced. #### 👀 Visual learners - Present: Strong metaphors (staircase with missing rungs, maps) create mental images. - Improve: Add diagrams illustrating executive function loops, masking “layers,” or timelines of diagnosis and masking. #### 🔊 Aural learners - Present: Conversational tone; could be read aloud effectively. - Improve: Provide an audio recording or short podcast-style reading with pauses for reflection. #### 🗣️ Verbal learners - Present: Rich vocabulary, definitions (executive dysfunction, time blindness), and metaphors. - Improve: Add a brief glossary summarising key terms and a few analogies contrasting ADHD vs. typical forgetfulness. #### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners - Present: Implicit prompts to reflect on one’s own experiences. - Improve: Include short exercises (e.g., mapping a typical day, noting where scaffolding is needed) or planning checklists. #### 🧠 Logical learners - Present: Clear causal threads (masking → burnout; language → self-understanding). - Improve: Provide bullet-point summaries of arguments and maybe a simple decision tree about “when is this more than being forgetful?” #### 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social learners - Present: Focus on conversations, disclosure, and interpersonal responses. - Improve: Add discussion prompts for support groups or peer conversations. #### 🧘‍♀️ Solitary learners - Present: Deep inner reflection, particularly about grief and childhood self. - Improve: Offer journaling questions and self-assessment prompts at the end. #### 🌿 Naturalistic learners - Present: Limited explicit nature analogies beyond “map/terrain.” - Improve: Introduce ecosystem metaphors (neurodiversity as biodiversity) to contextualise ADHD within broader human variation. ### 📊 Accessibility Assessment #### Screen reader semantics - Present: Blog format likely includes headings and paragraphs. - Improve: Ensure headings follow a clear hierarchy and images (if any) have descriptive alt text. #### Keyboard navigation - Present: Standard web article should be mostly keyboard navigable. - Improve: Confirm visible focus states, logical tab order, and skip links if the page includes navigation chrome. #### Contrast and readability - Present: Depends on theme; text seems standard blog format. - Improve: Guarantee at least 4.5:1 contrast, adequate line spacing, and option for larger fonts. #### Text resizing and reflow - Present: Responsive layout likely, given modern WordPress-style sites. - Improve: Test at 200% zoom and on mobile; support prefers-reduced-motion to reduce distraction. #### Media and captions - Present: Primarily text, so limited media issues. - Improve: If any embedded video/audio exists, ensure captions or transcripts. #### Forms and interactions - Present: Minimal forms (perhaps comments). - Improve: Accessible labels, helpful error messages, adequate target sizes, and no timeouts for longer comments. #### Standards reference - Map gaps to WCAG 2.2 AA criteria around text, navigation, and cognitive accessibility (e.g., 1.4.3, 2.4.x, 3.3.x). ### 🌍 DEIB Assessment #### Cultural breadth - Present: Focuses on an individual UK-based experience, implicitly Western. - Improve: Acknowledge cultural differences in diagnosis, stigma, and access to care. #### Inclusive language - Present: Uses respectful, non-pathologising, gender-neutral language; avoids slurs. - Improve: Add brief clarifications that ADHD experiences are diverse and intersect with race, gender, and class. #### Neurodiversity support - Present: Centres neurodivergent experience and explains concepts like masking. - Improve: Explicitly name “neurodiversity,” reference broader community language, and link to neurodivergent-led resources. #### Representation - Present: Solo narrative from one perspective. - Improve: Where appropriate, link to other writers with different backgrounds and ADHD presentations. #### Psychological safety - Present: Validating tone, clear rejection of shaming; acknowledges grief with care. - Improve: Add a brief content note about mental health, shame, and childhood experiences, plus resource links. ### ✅ Logical Validity #### Strong reasoning - Inductive reasoning: More ADHD talk is explained by increased information and reduced silence, not by a sudden surge in ADHD existence. This is plausible and fits observable social trends. - Causal reasoning: Masking is linked to burnout and crashes; the narrative shows how continuous effort without rest leads to later collapse. - Analogical reasoning: The “staircase with missing rungs” and “map” analogies clarify the difference between occasional difficulty and chronic impairment. #### Fallacies - No clear formal fallacies; the piece is experiential and illustrative rather than statistical. Claims about systems and recognition are plausible but anecdotal; they could be strengthened with data references. #### Tone of voice - Tone: Intimate, candid, gently confrontational in places. Moves between vulnerability (“little Sam”) and firm boundary-setting (“retire ‘everyone’s a bit ADHD’”). ### 🛡️ DARVO Analysis - Deny: The article explicitly resists denial and minimisation; it critiques dismissive responses rather than using them. - Attack: The author does not attack individuals; criticism is aimed at phrases, systems, and patterns. - Reverse victim/offender: The piece specifically rejects moves that recast the non-ADHD person as the central figure (e.g., “me too” that overwrites the discloser’s story). The author does not present themselves as a victim to invalidate others; instead, they describe harm to seek understanding. ## 🎯 Conclusion The article argues that ADHD isn’t a fleeting trend but a longstanding reality that many people are only now able to name. Language functions as a map, transforming isolated struggle into shared understanding while also revealing grief for lost years of misinterpretation. For readers, the practical next step is to retire minimising phrases, default to belief, and stay curious about how ADHD actually shows up in each person’s life. ## 🧱 Refactor Appendix (append after 🎯 Conclusion) ### 📚 Literature Split Pad - Purpose: Stage Konik CEE units that become per-source Literature notes. - Split level: **H3**. - Include verbatim quotes under 25 words and a [view highlight] link. ### [H1] Language for ADHD reveals hidden patterns > [!quote] [Not trendy. Just named.](https://www.samalderson.co.uk/life-and-energy/not-trendy-just-named/) by [[Sam Alderson]] via [[samalderson.co.uk]]. Published 2026-02-19. Accessed 2026-02-19. > “ADHD gave me something I didn’t have before: a map. Not a label to show off — a map to stop getting lost.” Two lines: Language turns private friction into a recognisable pattern. Use when arguing for psychoeducation and naming as interventions. [view highlight](https://www.samalderson.co.uk/life-and-energy/not-trendy-just-named/#H1) #xref #articleseed ID:rw_[MISSING] ### [H2] Masking buys approval but drains energy > [!quote] [Not trendy. Just named.](https://www.samalderson.co.uk/life-and-energy/not-trendy-just-named/) > “From the outside, masking can look like competence. Inside, it can feel like constant strain.” Two lines: Use to support claims about hidden labour in neurodivergent masking and why “high functioning” labels can mislead. [view highlight](https://www.samalderson.co.uk/life-and-energy/not-trendy-just-named/#H2) #xref ID:rw_[MISSING] --- ### 🔖 Atomic Split Pad (Zettel Candidates) - Purpose: Promote reusable claims into Atomic notes. - Split level: **H4**. - Each item: one idea, present tense, specific, testable. #### [Z1] ADHD language functions as a cognitive map - When people learn ADHD terms, they can reframe shameful habits as patterns with explanations. - Pointer to page/time or dataset. - Links: [[ADHD]] [[Psychoeducation]] #### [Z2] Masking neurodivergence increases burnout risk - In contexts that reward “high functioning” performance, chronic masking leads to later crashes. - Pointer to page/time or dataset. - Links: [[Masking]] [[Burnout]] --- ### ✏️ Fleeting Queue (Extract by Selection) - Purpose: Capture quick actions or sparks for Fleeting notes. - Extraction: **Select one line** → “Refactor: Extract selection to new note (content only).” - Keep each line short and self-contained. - [F1] Capture quote about “staircase with missing rungs” as metaphor for chronic vs. incidental difficulty — context/https://www.samalderson.co.uk/life-and-energy/not-trendy-just-named/ #fleeting #inbox - [F2] Draft workshop segment on validating vs. minimising responses to ADHD disclosures — context/https://www.samalderson.co.uk/life-and-energy/not-trendy-just-named/ #fleeting #inbox - [F3] Explore research on late-diagnosed inattentive ADHD and masking — context/https://www.samalderson.co.uk/life-and-energy/not-trendy-just-named/ #fleeting #inbox --- <!-- deep-read:sections end -->