ADHD while Black: My Little Brother’s Story
My little brother was diagnoses with ADHD when he was a child. He’s a classic, unmanaged ADHD, school to prison pipeline, employment difficulty, black male case. Always struggled in school, challenging behaviour, the whole lot. He took medication for a while but eventually had to quit. Part of why I think he got diagnosed so early was because my parents were white, and they wouldn’t stand for being blamed for his behaviour by anyone.
Sometimes, when he’s been in prison (thankfully, it’s always been for petty things), I guiltily feel more relaxed. He knows the system. The routine is the same. He eats, sleep, works out and is generally safer, because he knows how to work that system. So I think he has a better chance of staying alive there than if he’s out. He’s charismatic, friendly and code switches so the white guards like him. But he’s never learned to work the system outside the prison walls as well. It’s probably because the prison system was designed for people just like him and the outside world designed to catch him.
Not surprisingly, my brother is stopped by police in town: A. Lot. At 6’2, with a heavy-weight boxer’s physique he stands out (he knows his size helps in prison, but on the street... not so much). If he’s out after dark, it’s almost guaranteed he’ll get stopped.
But the impulsivity that comes with his ADHD, has gotten him into fights, easily addicted, or in situations where his guilt is automatically assumed because of his skin colour. He’s never really been able to get ahead and he can’t escape his past. This society makes any chance for change, 10x harder for him as a Black man anyway, but even more so with having to find support for his ADHD too.
I often think of all the additional expectations, beliefs, attitudes and environmental challenges we both face in order to ‘NT Society’ the ‘right/white way.’ I know my ability to mask, swallow racism, and be school-smart, got me closer to ‘NT society expectations’ than my brother ever could.
But his path was chosen the moment he was pegged as ‘difficult’ while Black, in the school system. From there, I don’t think he really stood a chance.
It’s time to include race in the conversations about ADHD a lot more.