Inverness visit for duo behind ADHD podcast heard in 183 countries
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Meet the two Aberdeen women behind a podcast that has now been downloaded over 500,000 times when they tour to Inverness in an ADHD-awareness, fun event on Thursday (April 27).
Since the podcast began last May, ADHD As Females has been downloaded over 500,000 times and brought together its own ADHD community.
To celebrate the first year of a podcast that began by accident, the two women behind it Dawn-Marie Farmer and Laura Mears-Reynolds decided to take the spirit of the podcast on the road to meet the real people who have supported their podcast – and also to raise awareness of ADHD.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a condition that affects people's behaviour and among the symptoms are people with ADHD can seem restless, may have trouble concentrating and may act on impulse.
The duo's podcast started when they met in Aberdeen after both women moved to the same street in the city and discovered they both had ADHD.
How did they meet?
Dawn laughed: “Essentially you both find you have ADHD in that you both overshare a lot!”
Laura added: “We both moved to the same little fishing village, Footdee right on the beach in Aberdeen. Dawn moved there from another part in Aberdeen and started posting about it.
“I moved there a month later and was looking on social media and Dawn popped up, so I insisted she be my friend because it was the pandemic and it was hard to make friends!
“As soon as we were allowed to socialise outdoors, I threw a little barbecue, poured Dawn a glass of wine and Dawn said ‘Sorry if I talk too much, I think I’ve got ADHD!’ And I said ‘No way, me too!’ And that was it!”
Dawn had started at university having sought a diagnosis for her condition through the NHS, but found it was taking a long time to work through the system. Laura had already had a diagnosis and had not long started medication which was helping with the condition.
Dawn said: “We started the podcast last May, when I was on my break from uni. Neither of us realised that we would be here at this point nearly a year later with a weekly podcast!”
In the chatty, informal first episode, both women describe their lives and how ADHD has affected them and led to them unmasking the neurodivergent condition they call "too muchness" in their day to day living.
In that first podcast they also discuss how difficult it can be to get a diagnosis, and ask each other the same questions, such as ‘What has undiagnosed ADHD cost you?’, one of them answering “Almost my life!”, before elaborating.
A regular element of the podcast is humour and the two describes their own situations to help raise awareness for others.
Dawn said: “There are a lot of people who are undiagnosed and it is suspected there are more people out there undiagnosed than diagnosed.”
Laura said: “There are numbers that are conservative estimations. We started this a year ago when it was predicted there were in 40. Now it is being said in certain circles that it could be one in 20.
"Neurodiversity is this idea that we all have different things that we are up against, but there is no real way of knowing because we are so behind in research and awareness.
“But it’s a huge moment in history and we just so happened to start a podcast about it!”
Dawn said: “We are coming on tour to Inverness because we want to continue to spread that awareness.
"We also want to reiterate the fact that it’s not just for our listeners.
"Anybody is welcome to come to this show in Inverness from across the UK, wherever they are, if they want to learn a little more about ADHD – they might have someone in their family, a friend. Everyone is going to know someone who is affected by ADHD in some way.
Laura said: “We are only experts by our own experiences.”
Dawn said: “We are not coaches, we are not doctors, we are not qualified in any way to talk about ADHD other than the fact we have it and these are our experiences.”
Laura said: “So this is what it looks like, this is what it sounds like, this is what it feels like.
"A huge part of what we do on the podcast is shame eradication to bring the community together. We have a section in the podcast called ‘The most ADHD thing…’.
"So on the tour, we are basically using what we have learned about ADHD – we include some dopamine-boosting games as a great way for ADHDers to learn things and to stay engaged.
"So we play a game of bingo, we stick to time because we have time blindness!
"We play bingo, have fun and there are prizes – and for each ball we talk about a different symptom of the condition – or an experience of the diagnosis process and we share stories.
"The stories are funny and that is the key, that we've got to laugh at it and it brings us together. But the stories are also educational from an experiential viewpoint."
Dawn said: “I think there are also some strong messages behind those stories as well as about what we've learned from them and what we can teach others."
Laura said: “It is a serious developmental condition and the seriousness of awareness and diagnosis of the condition and self-diagnosis has to be valid in a system that is so broken that people who need help cannot access help for years on end.
"So if you can see those treatments yourself, then you can engage with the community and help yourself and learn how to support yourself and learn to feel supported in peer to peer support.
“Expect bright colours, loud music, strong language, tears, laughter, surprises, blethering, and a lot of leopard print – please wear some!
“We’re joined by two speakers, writer Nicole Nadler ahead of her Edinburgh Fringe show ‘Why am I like this?’ and Rose Owen of
@honestyaberdeen helping inspire further unmasking with her Radical Honesty.
Find the ADHD As Females podcast
The Too Much Tour is at the Tooth & Claw, Inverness, on Thursday, April 27, at 7pm through: eventbrite.com/e/the-too-much-tour-inverness
