What Is AuDHD? Understanding Autism and ADHD
- kaitlynboudreault
- 17 hours ago
- 6 min read
If you have come across the term “AuDHD,” you are likely experiencing a familiar pattern.
You feel pulled in two different directions.
Maybe one part of you craves routines and predictability, while another part feels restless and seeks novelty.
Perhaps you struggle to stay organized but become completely absorbed in topics that interest you.
You may feel as if you relate to some of the traits of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but there are gaps. Perhaps you relate to some of the traits of autism, but something is missing. You’ve spent years wondering why descriptions of ADHD or autism seem to fit them, but in isolation, neither experience has felt like it describes the whole picture.
Some people may relate to these experiences because they have bipolar disorder, trauma, anxiety, depression, or another condition with overlapping traits with AuDHD. However, if this sounds familiar, you may also be an AuDHDer—someone who is both autistic and has ADHD.
For many people, discovering this term brings clarity to experiences that never quite fit descriptions of autism or ADHD alone. For others, discovering you are AuDHD can feel confusing or may bring up anger for the lack of support you have received.
If you identify as AuDHD or think you might be, working with a neurodiversity-affirming therapist in Ontario can help you better understand your brain and build strategies that work for you.
In this blog, we’ll explore what AuDHD is, how it presents, and why so many adults are discovering this part of their identity later in life.
What Is AuDHD?
AuDHD describes someone who identifies as both autistic and having ADHD. Oftentimes, when people use the term AuDHD, they are also referring to how these two neurotypes interact.
AuDHD is not a formal diagnosis, and it is not in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), which is the manual widely used by clinicians globally to diagnose conditions.
Instead, similar to the word “neurodivergent”, it is a community term that was coined by those with lived experiences of AuDHD themselves.
Although the DSM-5 doesn’t recognize AuDHD as a formal diagnosis, both autism and ADHD can now be diagnosed together. Before 2013, this wasn’t the case. Clinicians used to be unable to diagnose both conditions together, so many people only received one diagnosis even if they met the criteria for both.
However, today, research suggests that AuDHD, or the diagnosis of ADHD and autism concurrently, is quite common. Approximately 50% to 70% of autistic individuals also meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD.
Rather than experiencing autism or ADHD in isolation, many AuDHD individuals see the interaction between both neurotypes as a unique experience. The combination (AuDHD) is different than the sum of parts (autism and ADHD alone).
What Are the Signs of AuDHD?
Autism and ADHD are neurodevelopmental differences that involve challenges with attention, social experiences, and regulating emotions.
Although every AuDHD individual is different, there are many characteristics shared between autism and ADHD. Some common signs include:
Needing routine while simultaneously craving novelty
Difficulty starting or completing tasks despite wanting structure
Becoming deeply absorbed in interests (often hyperfocus in the case of ADHD or absorbed in special interests in the case of autism)
Feeling easily distracted by everything happening around you
Sensory sensitivities to sounds, lights, textures, or smells
Strong emotional reactions and difficulty with emotional regulation
Executive functioning challenges, including planning, organization, and time management
Difficulty reading social situations or understanding unwritten social rules
Forgetting appointments, losing belongings, or struggling with follow-through
Feeling exhausted from masking or trying to appear "normal"
These challenges may impact AuDHD people in different ways, depending on whether ADHD or autism is dominant for a specific trait.
People may also get a tug-of-war where both experiences pull at one another. Many AuDHD adults describe feeling like they are constantly navigating internal contradictions. This is often the case for the trait “needing routine while simultaneously craving novelty.” The ADHD part of you craves novelty, while the autism part of you wants routine.
How Is AuDHD Different From ADHD or Autism Alone?
ADHD and autism do share many overlapping traits, including executive functioning challenges, sensory differences, emotional regulation difficulties, and hyperfocus.
However, AuDHD is often seen as a unique experience because it often involves experiencing these characteristics that appear to pull in opposite directions.
For example,
You may spend hours colour-coding a planner (autism), only to forget where you put it the next day (ADHD).
You may desperately want predictable routines (autism) while also becoming bored by them (ADHD).
Autism may value predictability, while ADHD may act impulsively.
You might enjoy spending time alone (autism) while simultaneously craving meaningful connection (ADHD).
Autism can involve deep focus on one interest, while ADHD may jump rapidly between interests.
Rather than one characteristic cancelling the other out, these characteristics often coexist and create challenges as they interact with one another.
You may feel as if you are caught between structure and spontaneity, consistency and change, or quiet and stimulation. Whereas if you only had ADHD, you may still experience executive functioning challenges, sensory differences, and emotional regulation difficulties, but these experiences wouldn’t involve a tug of war with autistic traits.
You may jump rapidly between interests, act impulsively, or become bored easily, but there are strategies to support this that wouldn’t necessarily work if you were an AuDHDer rather than just an ADHDer.
For example, playing music when bored can help with ADHD, but if you are also autistic, this music may be too overstimulating, and this strategy may not work. So, the strategies for AuDHD are different from those who are solely autistic or have ADHD.
Understanding this interaction can help explain why many people feel that descriptions of autism or ADHD alone never fully capture their lived experience.
Why Are So Many Adults Discovering They're AuDHD?
In recent decades, many adults have discovered that they are AuDHD. If you fall for the myths, you may mistakenly believe that this has to do with poor parenting or a trend.
However, the rise of the AuDHD label can largely be explained by an increase in understanding of what AuDHD actually means, better diagnostic tools, and more accurate criteria of AuDHD.
One reason why there is a rise in AuDHD is due to DSM-5 changes. Before 2013, clinicians could not diagnose autism and ADHD together because the DSM-5 wouldn’t allow it. This meant many people were diagnosed with only one neurotype, while others were misdiagnosed with anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or personality disorders instead.
Now that autism and ADHD can be diagnosed together, many autistic adults are seeking out an ADHD diagnosis, and the same goes for ADHDers seeking out an autism diagnosis. More assessments equal more AuDHD experiences.
Masking is also partly responsible for this increase in AuDHD experiences. Masking involves consciously or unconsciously hiding neurodivergent traits to fit social expectations.
Many people, especially girls and assigned female at birth (AFAB) individuals, became highly skilled at masking their differences.
As a result, AuDHD wasn’t detected and recognized until later in life. In childhood, your struggles may have been dismissed as "lazy," "too sensitive," or "disorganized.” But now that you begin to understand that your brain simply works differently, the AuDHD label may help you to more accurately recognize your challenges.
Lastly, misdiagnosis was also common in childhood and accounts for some of the increase in AuDHD experiences. Many people who are now recognizing they are AuDHDers were previously told that it was ADHD and anxiety or autism and depression, but until 2013, it could never be autism and ADHD.
In addition, AuDHD frequently co-occurs with other conditions, including:
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Sleep difficulties
Autistic burnout
As a result, these experiences may mask autism or ADHD and cause one neurotype to go undiagnosed for years.
But the responsibilities of adulthood may make it so that the usual coping strategies that covered ADHD or autism no longer work, and AuDHD becomes more visible.
These concerns should be understood within the context of neurodivergence, as they require different approaches than they would in neurotypical individuals.
Therapy for AuDHD in Ontario
There is no single support for AuDHD. Every person has different strengths, challenges, and support needs that require individualized support.
At Bee Kind Counselling, therapists use a neurodiversity-affirming approach that recognizes autism and ADHD as natural differences in how the brain processes information, not something that needs to be "fixed."
Therapy may focus on:
Building executive functioning strategies
Understanding sensory needs
Supporting emotional regulation
Preventing burnout
Improving communication and relationships
Learning sustainable accommodations for work, school, and daily life
Rather than trying to force yourself to function like everyone else, therapy can help you understand how your brain works and create environments and routines that support your well-being.
Book a Free Consultation With Bee Kind Counselling
Have you recently started wondering whether you may be AuDHD?
Do you feel like autism or ADHD alone has never fully explained your experiences?
Working with a neurodiversity-affirming therapist can help you better understand yourself while developing practical strategies that honour the way your brain works.
If you're interested, Bee Kind Counselling offers a free 15-minute consultation. Contact Bee Kind Counselling by emailing admin@beekindcounselling.com, calling 519-757-7842 ext. 1, or booking online through the website below.
Sources