Don't fear getting fired if you have ADHD

As a fellow ADHD-having person, I get you. After some point, after dealing with multiple burnouts, you learn to detach your self worth from your job and try to seek other sources of fulfillment and satisfaction. It took a while to get there, but I finally did.

That doesn't make your job and your income any less important for other aspects of your life. My immigration status relied for almost 7 years on my employment. You can imagine how worried I was by the prospect of losing my job.

I think you misinterpret the message of the article. I think the message is analogous to "don't feel guilty if you failed to obey the norms of behaviour", which does not mean at all that you should aim to break those norms and behave uncordial and inappropriate on purpose. You absolutely have to try your best, even for your own good. But for your own good, you have to have patience and empathy with yourself, too.

On another note, your perspective of trying to avoid being unemployed 3-12 months during job seeking is a rather US-American centered perspective. I get that HN is from the USA, but this view doesn't apply to every other region of the world.

I am also an immigrant, and my residency status has just recently decoupled from my employment status. I can imagine, and am happy for you too :).

Thankfully, I never experienced proper burnouts; but I did experience multiple cycles of being really invested in my job and just barely pushing myself to pay the bills. I do think with time, and by experiencing more cycles, I am getting closer to striking a healthier balance.

I get that having empathy with yourself and not hating yourself in case you have to face consequences of having ADHD is very important and good. But I would argue that not fearing the said consequences is a very different thing; and likely not even productive/feasible for a lot of people.

I got the impression that the author is advising for the latter too; considering the title and statements like

>You probably won't change their perceptions, so don't exhaust yourself trying to prove otherwise.

Unfortunately, I disagree with the article.

You do need to fear. You do need to hide the disability during interviews, onboarding and performance reviews, day to day, etc. No one cares about you really - they care if you do do some work, are present or performance. If not, it's easy to be pip'd. Even if you do, still can be stack ranked and pip'd.

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"My history of changing jobs used to make me feel like I didn't fit into society, especially before I understood how ADHD influenced my work performance and relationships." That's great, but it doesn't really help - saying you aren't the missing piece of the puzzle doesn't help someone that is diagnosed, undiagnosed or underdiagnosed at all - it just means you didn't - and the person whose reading this article can very much be aware of that but still proceed and feel as pariah or more as employers move to administratevely end your role.

"If you work full-time and have ADHD, you need to let go of the fear of losing your job. That anxiety consumes valuable mental energy better used elsewhere. Job loss isn't a personal failing; it's simply a mismatch between your brain and your environment. If it happens, so be it."

Job, is income and self worth - adhd and anxiety are usually diagnosed together.

"Getting fired isn't a reflection of your worth; it's about compatibility." Yes and no, depends on the job and role for many people, and in USA society, your job/role in soecity is a refleciton of yourself. You can write anything and say it isn't, you can state the USA has an unhealthy over work culture, it's still a reflection of worth to many people, refleciton of worth for self progress, promotion (right, you don't fit in and you still think about that.)

""Will worrying about this job matter two years from now?" It won’t. Jobs come and go." Unfortunately again, it does matter. Job provides $$$ and being fired can lead to joblessness for a year+. If you do not have other revenue/income streams, you're pretty much SOL.

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The article is really empty, dry and lacks resources and any true call to action. Many people have ADHD and it doesn't matter if the author can accept it - and move on. Many people can not. Many people could've had their perfect job stripped because of ADHD. You can say as much as you want a door clooses and many more can open, but some doors are closed forever.

No article would've been better.

For any other HN'er out there, disabilities, even if they're protected by law - do not matter, the more weakness you show in an env, be it a workplace, society or internet the more fuel someone has to burn you with it.