Upon starting to explore the world of neurodivergence as I approach an assessment myself, I heard a lot about the ‘ADHD tax’.
As with many people diagnosed slightly late/older you do a lot of looking back and seeing the signs of your ADHD and it’s interesting to consider if from the point of view of extra costs attached to decisions you’ve made (or failed to make) that have cost you money.
This came to mind as I’d been trying to sell my tickets to see Rob Beckett tonight and left it late to the point that I made a mental note to check my phone whilst having tea in case anyone made a bid acceptable to me. What happened? Yep someone made a bid below my asking price but acceptable all the same, £25 for the pair at such late notice. It added to the cost of ADHD as I forgot that I needed to keep a track of any messages received during tea and lost out on that money thus receiving nothing for the tickets and not going either.
Other costs to ADHD that I now realise includes –
i. Many, many impulse purchases ranging from small items worth a couple of quid to electronic items costing over £1,000.
ii. Money lost on stocks and shares through over trading both because of impatience with paying massive transaction costs with trades made almost every day and then holding onto successful stocks for too long rather than getting back what was paid in.
iii. Getting a letter saying I might be able to claim funds for electricity pylons being close to the property. My procrastination led to the claim form being left in the bottom of a drawer.
iv. I had an electric car on a 3-year lease, the dealer came to collect the car and I forgot that I had a spare key upstairs that I failed to hand over, costing me over £200 to replace.
v. Potentially 000s of £ in costs to repairing or writing off cars due to poor maintenance (partly responsible for having had 18 cars in 33 years).
vi. Countless examples of late fees to pay fines or other penalties due again to procrastination.
vii. Leaving wallet in a cafe toilet and getting it returned to me but with all cash gone (£100). All due to forgetfulness and lack of object permanence. I now carry minimal cash!
There are many other examples, t this really is the tip of the very costly ADHD iceberg.
Are all of the examples directly attributable to ADHD? How can I prove otherwise.
ADHD isn’t something I can turn on and off and realise that at my reckless times I accidentally switched it on so how can I know?
What I do know is that a combination of two procrastination, inattentiveness, impatience, lack of impulse control etc has led to thousands of pounds spent or missed that were unnecessary.
The ADHD ‘tax’ is real and around every corner there are many examples that anyone with ADHD will recognise.
This is why a diagnosis is helpful to help you to become more intentional i.e. recognise your limits and work with them to try to reduce this extra tax. I have ADHD coaching which is focussed on executive function, I hope that from it I can reign some of my less helpful processes in but awareness is the first step. I also have had therapy since 2010 so even adding the costs of treatment into the equation makes the cost of ADHD even greater and it could climb further with the costs of medication to factor in.
ADHD can be a very costly business, do you have examples of your own?
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