Hi, I’m Darren. I was late diagnosed with ADHD at 46 years old, the diagnosis helped me understand some of the challenges I’ve faced throughout my life and was a really positive milestone in my journey of understanding who I am.

After diagnosis, the research I did, and continue to do around ADHD, has highlighted the benefits it’s given me through my life, this balanced approach to neurodiversity is the core of what I talk about during neurodiversity seminars and when developing communications and training.

Throughout my life, ADHD helped me to become a decent motorcycle racer, led me to a colourful career and guided me towards a life that is true to who I am. Understanding my ADHD and how it affects who I am, allowed me to accept the challenges, and recognise the helpful, and not so helpful, coping mechanisms I had developed. Putting things in place to help where I’m challenged, has allowed me to focus on what I am good at, I now want to take that lived experience and help other people through the same process.

I work at a large company in the North West of England that are very supportive and look after their people well. During diagnosis, I looked for what they were doing around neurodiversity, and didn’t find enough on offer. Before asking what others will do for me, I always look at myself and ask what I can do for me, that led me to start the Neurodiversity Employee Network. Since then, I’ve led the company to a much better visibility and understanding around neurodiversity, developed our own training, and helped individuals, managers, teams and areas of the business develop their journey.

As I’ve become more involved with organisations outside of my workplace, a passion has ignited in me to bring change to the wider world. From past experience I know that when my purpose aligns with my core beliefs, my personality and ADHD team up and make an unstoppable force! I believe becoming an ambassador for ADHD UK is the right step for me to take to give that force a direction and add my voice to the fantastic things that ADHD UK do.

ADHD isn’t a problem to be solved, it’s a benefit to be harnessed!