ADHD advocacy event celebrates the “spice” of diagnosis in Nanaimo

Morvay (pictured) says a lot of people seek attention disorder diagnoses to better understand themselves. Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm

October is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Acceptance Month and several groups in Nanaimo are putting on an event to highlight that ADHD is more than just a disorder.

The ADHD Advocacy Society of BC in partnership with Oceanview Pediatrics and the Nanaimo Child Development Centre is putting on for the first time an event on Sunday, October 20, for all ages that flips the script on what it means to have ADHD.

Chantelle Morvay, Board Chair of the ADHD Advocacy Society of BC, came down to CHLY’s studio to speak about the celebration and about being diagnosed with ADHD much later in life.

She said the society was started by her and two other women after they realized no voices were speaking solely about ADHD in B.C. So they decided to become that voice.

“We decided to start a nonprofit to get the word out, to get that information out there, dispel a lot of the stigma and the misinformation, and to hopefully get better support and services for everybody with ADHD in BC,” Morvay said.

She said while it may be slightly easier for children to be diagnosed with ADHD, as an adult she has found there are very few doctors who understand the disorder.

“We have actually three psychologists on our board of directors for the ADHD society, and they are out there really trying to bring that information to doctors, making sure that there are training opportunities, information opportunities for them because it is very, very unfortunately, still stigmatized, still misunderstood,” she said.

It took Morvay six years to get her own diagnosis after having two kids that had already been diagnosed. She said the amount of paperwork she needed to do first slowed her down but it wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic started that she realized she needed to get the diagnosis done.

She said she was lucky to be able to have extended medical care to pay for a psychologist for the diagnosis. She said back then she only had to wait three months to see a psychologist, but nowadays it's almost a two-year wait to see the same psychologist.

She said after she made her ADHD diagnosis public she had many of her friends reach out to understand what it meant to have ADHD.

“They came to me and said, ‘I'm seeing all the same symptoms. I'm looking back on my childhood and I see how difficult it's been, how much more difficult it's been for us, and is there an easier way out there? I want to find out. I want to understand. I want to learn more,’” she said.

She said a lot of people seek attention disorder diagnoses to better understand themselves, but Morvay said, others may see someone’s interest in getting diagnosed as a way of seeking medication, something she said is an outrageous idea.

“That's that misinformation that's coming in, and it's inhibiting a lot of people I've heard who want to go for a diagnosis, but they're inhibited by a doctor telling them, ‘oh, no, you're too successful, you can't possibly have ADHD. You're not a boy, so you don't have ADHD. Oh, it's just depression or anxiety.’” Morvay said. “So many of my friends, even myself, doctors would say, ‘oh, it's probably just anxiety. Here's some anxiety meds.’”

Having a proper diagnosis is something Morvay said people need to get a better path to proper support and services, along with a better understanding of themselves.

“For myself, I'm actually definitely a lot less hard on myself. There's a lot less shame involved in forgetting an appointment or getting lost or being very late,” Morvay said. “Because a bunch of different things happened, or you didn't put into your phone properly, which has happened quite a bit these past two weeks because our executive functioning is impacted by ADHD.”

According to the Centre for ADHD Awareness Canada, up to 75 per cent of girls in Canada go undiagnosed with attention problems. This, Morvay said, is not a surprise to her.

“I just look back on my childhood, and my sister actually helped with my diagnosis. So my sister helped with the survey that they gave–they give you to your family, people who know you best, people who've known you in your childhood–and my sister remembered things that my mom didn't even remember,” she said. “She's like, ‘ do you remember when you used to pack literally everything in your backpack?’ Because I would forget stuff all the time, so I would walk around school with this huge backpack on my back, because I always forgot my books wherever it was.”

She said while she was in high school she was able to mask her ADHD symptoms and was good in school. She said a perk of high school is the consistent routine that can be a benefit for many people with ADHD.

“But when I got to university, that's when it hit. That is something where you have to actually organize yourself, it's not somebody else doing it for you,” she said. “So I crashed and burnt during university, and I went through half of the year at university, and I dropped out.”

She said then she decided to take photography, something she was passionate about and while she was focused and achieving in her photography, the organization aspect she needed to keep up with became too much.

“And I see a lot of women who have gotten burnt out. They crash and burn,” Morvay said. “High-achieving people who just crash and burn for a while and they have to take a year off.”

It wasn't until her diagnosis of ADHD, that she said she decided to try medication for it. She said it has been life-changing and she has been able to keep up with things like organizing and cleaning her house.

She said because of the positive path she has been able to take since her diagnosis with ADHD, she and others have discussed a celebration of the disorder.

“Because it's a bit of a lonely world out there,” she said. “We know that there are a lot of people out there, but we're like, ‘Well, where are they?’ So let's get connected together, and let's meet each other and talk together.”

The celebration, happening at the Child Development Center at 1130 Nelson St in Nanaimo, will feature panels on topics such as women with ADHD, employment accommodations, and parenting with ADHD. The event will feature kids zones, activities and panel discussions for teens and young adults, and an adult zone with ADHD resources and ADHD entrepreneurs selling ADHD-friendly items.

When asked why people should celebrate having ADHD, Morvay said having ADHD is a different and great way of looking at the world. 

“We all kind of come at it a little bit differently, you will see different things in different people.” She said, “This is why I want to have this celebration, to connect us, ADHDers together and celebrate the wonderful things that we've accomplished. Connect it and give hope to those who may not have as much hope, who can see that there is a positive outcome. You can have a good life, you can thrive with ADHD. You can have a fantastic life. Just you have to work with it, you can't work against it.”

The ADHD celebration is happening on Sunday, October 20 at Child Development Center at 1130 Nelson St in Nanaimo. More information about the event can be found on the ADHD Advocacy Society of BC's Facebook page.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.