AuADHD in women is frequently missed because of academic success and masking.

A parent’s late diagnosis can unlock a child’s own, even in adulthood.

Meltdowns in autism are involuntary responses, not character flaws.

Alpha-gal syndrome creates hidden barriers to standard ADHD treatment.

The Game She Hated Without Knowing Why

You probably know the game: A sibling gets as close to your face as possible without technically touching, and says, with great satisfaction: “I’m not touching you.”

For most children, it’s annoying. For Jordan Davis, it was unbearable. She never understood why until she was an adult.

“I never knew why I hated it so much,” she tells me. “Now I know it’s because I don’t like being touched. I’m sensitive to that.”

Jordan is the founder of the Canine Stroke Foundation, an advocate for animal health, and someone who has spent most of her life being told she was difficult. She is also, as of recently, a person with a name for what she has been experiencing since childhood: AuADHD, the co-occurrence of autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The diagnosis came unexpectedly. There was no crisis or collapse. It came from a face-to-face conversation with her mother.

Jordan’s mother is a doctor and one of the most clinically informed people in her life. Yet when her mother was diagnosed as autistic in her 70s, it was the first time either of them began to understand Jordan.

“I immediately thought I needed to be assessed, because we are so similar,” Jordan says. “She talked about a lifetime of bad memories due to social misunderstandings. It all made sense to her finally. I needed that clarity as well.”

Autism has a strong hereditary component. A parent’s diagnosis frequently illuminates a child’s own experience,........

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