dictation feature on your phone. So I’ll talk through a lot of emails, if there’s a big feedback session, I’ll usually dictate that. Ideally while walking around because, especially with a lot of especially hyperactive type ADHD-ers, the movement helps to get the brain moving.
Is there a stigma around ADHD, and simply being accused of being “lazy”? When I went in for my diagnosis, it was terrifying. The fear that you were just lazy and useless, and you could concentrate because you are bad and broken. That it was your fault. And that terror becomes very acute when you’re on the precipice of being labelled ADHD or not. I’m kind of terrified to talk so openly about it, but part
the homework done. So I said to my friend, ‘if I don’t get my short story piece written in the next hour, I have to give you £15.’ My friend, who knows how my brain works better than I do, said ‘Okay, I’ll take that £15 and I’ll donate it to the Church of Scientology. Because I know you’ll hate that.’ Yeah, that really motivated me. I’ve also tried to make my workspace as pleasant as
possible. One of the things that I realised was making my brain very noisy, was just the fact that I had a very cluttered desk – from both a visual perspective and also as an artist, it was really getting to me. Also anything that stops me from focusing – being dehydrated, being cold. I have a huge weighted blanket, and if I keep it here, it’s too much effort to pick it up and move it – so it keeps me in one spot as well as keeping me from being too cold. And then I do things like externalise my brain. A lot
of my ADHD traits have been wanting to do lots and lots of external stuff. So alongside my full time work, I have my online shop, I go to Comic Con, I do talks and workshops at universities… Trying to maintain all of that can be quite overwhelming. I use Notion to timeline everything out and set myself tasks so that I can let myself forget about stuff that is in the future. Because I know that once it appears on the timeline, I’ll have like the allotted amount of time to tackle that. That only works because it’s also been stripped of anything that I don’t need, that’s too noisy or too much effort. Because the minute that I’ve created a system that’s too cluttered and requires effort to use, I’m not going to use anything. So it requires a lot of self acceptance and kindness. I briefly had an ADHD coach as well, who gave the incredible recommendation of using the voice to text
44 | MCV/DEVELOP April 2022
of the reason I pitched the talk is because I’ve had that experience of seeing someone speak about something and realising that it was okay to talk about it. Or to raise the point of ‘hey, maybe I have this as well.’ I’ve had quite a few messages from people asking questions about how I approach things, how I got diagnosed, or if I have any advice on how to manage that. Or simply saying things like ‘thank you – I think that I might have it and it’s good to see people speak out about it.’
What can companies do to support staff members with ADHD? Understanding is really important, it’s something that needs to be built into between the line manager and the person with ADHD. I think there’s lots of little things in terms of communication that can be adjusted. Things like how feedback is given, whether it’s something that they prefer to talk through, or whether it’s a very clear bullet pointed list of what to approach. I also think having a space for neurodiverse people,
as a kind of support group is really wonderful – or even ADHD coaches, I got my ADHD coach through work and that was very helpful. Plus it would be extremely useful to have those body doubling spaces digitally. But also just a general understanding that brains work
in different ways, every person is different and requires different things. And I really want to avoid making people feel like ADHD people are too much effort, because that’s blatantly untrue. Given the sheer number of people in games who likely have ADHD, it’s kind of important to avoid making people feel like that. I know so many phenomenal ADHD people who are absolutely killing it in terms of what they do. They’ve taken the thing that they’re obsessed with, and have turned it into a career. I think that level of very specific passion is pretty rare.
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