Column: My experience of having ADHD as a Latina

In typical Latino households, mental health is never discussed, but now that I'm older, I can educate my Mexican parents about my recent ADHD diagnosis and its impact on my daily life.

Being the older sibling took a lot from me in a first-generation home. I always grew up listening to my parents say that I was the leading example for my two younger siblings and with that came a lot of mental pressure. By the time I was in 1st grade, I was already dealing with anxiety. 

That same year, my teacher called my parents to let them know that I was talking to my peers during class time and that I was getting easily distracted. She wasn’t wrong. I do get easily distracted but that’s not my fault; that’s just how my brain is wired. I obviously had to learn to get better at paying attention in class and trust me, it was hard.

Growing up Latina, our culture doesn’t know what attention deficit hyperactivity disorder even means and perhaps they knew what it looked like but oftentimes ADHD is brushed off as having bad behavior, not paying attention, and having too much energy.

My whole life I heard my mom tell me, “Eres traviesa Amairani.” I also grew up listening to my dad tell me, “No pones atención,” and to this day I hear the same thing from my partner. Coincidence, I think not. The constant zoning out, the short-term memory I experience during the day, the procrastination I exhibit with small daily tasks and not being able to stay still for a long period of time also led me to my recent diagnosis.

My whole childhood and up to my college days, I struggled with math. I have always been good in school, and how could I not be if I had no choice? I was the type of student who got straight A's, except for math. I always had to take summer school to make up for my grade and that happened every year.

I have to admit, college was pretty tough and I couldn’t really afford to fail any of my math classes as my college tuition was getting paid off by financial aid and grants. This meant that I had to work even harder just to even pass the class and I would do that by watching math YouTube videos and attending tutoring classes every day. And let's not get into the internal battle I had of sitting still for a two-hour class.

A 2015 review of studies by The National Library of Medicine found that people with the inattentive type of ADHD tend to be more likely to have trouble with mathematics than people with the hyperactive type. 

Now that I'm older and wiser and I'm breaking the stigma around mental health in my family, I can finally understand that nothing was ever wrong with me and that my brain functions differently than others. Just last month I was diagnosed with combined type, which is the least common of them all. Combined type ADHD, or mixed type ADHD, is a neurobehavioral condition that affects your brain and, in turn, your behavior. Combined type ADHD presents with both hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive symptoms.

Getting diagnosed was a relief; I was able to understand the way that I am and it felt like I was finally able to piece the puzzle together about myself. According to Diverse Health Hub, there are disparities in getting Latino children diagnosed because we are 50 percent less likely to receive the diagnosis due to the lack of mental health education, health insurance and doctors’ biases. 

Getting my diagnosis took some time but I first mentioned my concerns to my primary doctor and from there he referred me to a psychiatrist and a psychologist for further testing. Getting my ADHD diagnosis was just the first step in the right direction.

I still have a lot of work and learning to do to improve my day-to-day. By improving awareness about the condition in the Latino community, we can help better improve the diagnosis statistics for other Latino children and adults, so that they don’t have to suffer in silence or wonder why they are different or feel different.

If there is anything I can help you with, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at amairani@latinomedia.or