About falling apart and trusting the process

Snapshots from the life (and work) of an academic with ADHD

Authors

  • Anne Bettina Pedersen Aalborg Universitet

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/kkf.v34i1.132341

Keywords:

ADHD, neurodivergence, the neoliberal university, slow writing, autophenomenography

Abstract

In this essay, I give an autophenomenographical account of what it is like for me to be late-diagnosed with ADHD while in the process of writing my dissertation. I explain how ADHD is an invisible disability and how little help is offered when the medication does not work. I explore how, because of my ADHD, my brain is at the same time my most valuable resource/tool and my worst enemy. I describe the various challenges in my life, psychological as well as physical, and call for academic institutions to provide structures that allow for non-normative temporalities and ways of doing research. In this essay, I offer some snapshots of my own experiences in the hope that neurodivergent students and scholars will see themselves reflected (and accepted), as opposed to an academic article about neurodivergents written by a neurotypical scholar.

References

Cvetkovich, A. 2012. Depression: A Public Feeling. Durham & London: Duke University Press.

Griffiths, E. 2020. 'But you don't look disabled': Non-visible disabilities, disclosure and being an 'insider' in disability research and 'other in the disability movement and academia. In: Brown, N. and Leigh, J. eds. Ableism in Academia: Theorising experiences of disabilities and chronic illnesses in higher education. London: UCL Press, 124-142.

Halberstam, J. 2011. The Queer Art of Failure. Durham & London: Duke University Press.

Helin, J, Kivinen, N., and Pullen, A. 2021. Until the dust settles: Pasts, presents and futures of critical publishing. ephemera: theory and politics in organization. 21(4), 89-115.

Mountz, A. et al. 2015. For Slow Scholarship: A Feminist Politics of Resistance through Collective Action in the Neoliberal University. ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies. 14(4), 1235-1259.

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Published

2023-02-15

How to Cite

Pedersen, A. B. (2023). About falling apart and trusting the process: Snapshots from the life (and work) of an academic with ADHD. Women, Gender & Research, 34(2), 108–113. https://doi.org/10.7146/kkf.v34i1.132341

Issue

Section

Essays