ADHD, Academics, and Communities: Who Are the “ADHD Experts”?

Abstract

Traditionally, the status of “ADHD expert”—a phrase often used in ADHD support groups and communities—was only conferred on academic researchers (almost exclusively non-ADHDers) and practicing clinicians (who are sometimes ADHDers themselves) specializing in ADHD. Over the years, the category has expanded to include ADHD coaches and social media influencers. “ADHD experts” have helped to shape ADHD community discourse, whether directly or indirectly, in various ways. In recent years, however, the authoritative role of individual “ADHD experts” appears to be gradually diminishing, increasingly replaced by an emphasis on neurodivergent community care and collective theorizing, with all ADHDers treated as equal knowers and contributors. As some of the chapters in this handbook make clear, this trend is now being adopted in academic research on ADHD as well. In this chapter, I provide a research-informed commentary on this evolution of “ADHD expertise,” and consider potential tensions, but also new possibilities, for partnership between individual “ADHD experts” and critical ADHD collectives.