Our very own Hannah Huxford, Sales Executive at Wilson and Co Grimsby, has released her brand new book. Titled 'The Secret Diary of an ADHD Martyr, A girl Gone Wild' the book recounts Hannah's journey with her undiagnosed disability and dealing with her neurodivergence, starting from her early years.

• In Hannah's own words...

  "ADHD is a disability under the Equality act 2010, so it’s so important for people to understand the disability and the affects it causes, as they can be detrimental. There recently has been bad press about the disability due to people being poorly educated about it. ADHD is usually associated in stereo typical ways, for example a naughty school boy, but it’s a lot more than that. It’s important to spread the positive awareness, so people can learn and truly understand what it’s like having such a disability. Females are harder to diagnose due to the usual characteristics being masked, like it was for me, resulting in years of masking causing PTSD. 

  All my life I knew I was different, my brain worked differently to others. My behaviours were different, and I have spent a life time trying to understand why I behave the way I do. However, no one helped me, so I struggled throughout school, so much so that I was kept on one more year at junior school, as my teacher told my parents they felt I was far too immature to go to secondary school. I had spent a life time masking my disability.

  Nathan, my manager and the General Sales Manager of Wilson and Co Grimsby, started to notice my erratic meltdowns whilst at work, he could see I was struggling with sensory overloads and had difficulties when too much was going on. This is not to say I am not capable of doing my job role as a Sales Lady at Grimsby, as I do it brilliantly, but I am very lucky to have such a fantastic Manager in Nathan and the all the team at Grimsby, who are all incredibly supportive. However my brain works differently as I am a neurodivergent, and Nathan who previously has worked with people with disabilities could see straight away my struggles and wanted to address them. So I decided to take the leap and seek help, prompting me to see my GP. I wasn’t sure if they would believe me as in the past many doctors passed it off as either anxiety or depression, instead of them actually listening to me. For the first time I felt my GP understood and the ball started rolling. Overall it was a two year process to get my official diagnosis.

  The process was long, I am now looked after by Naviogo Adult ADHD health and social services, who officially diagnosed me in June 2022 at the age of 47 years old with ADHD Combined moderate to severe, along with Post Traumatic Stress and Dyslexia. We are lucky here in Grimsby that we do have the Adult ADHD services, but many towns and cities do not have the facilities, and many are waiting years and years to get a diagnosis. My diagnosis gave me clarity and a fresh understanding of my disability. 

  I had a mix of emotions after diagnosis, I went through a grieving process, because for years I had struggled with no help. However Navigo told me I should be proud of how I have developed such coping strategies. I started to understand myself, and why I behave the way I do. At last the mask was finally off and I started to feel like Hannah. 

  This prompted me to write the book that I so have wanted to do. I started writing my book in August 2022, and ensured it was written from my persepective, along with my own editing so it could be exactly as I wanted it to be. This would allow anyone in a similar to situation to myself to understand and relate to my words and story. This is book one, and in total there will three books. Book one is about my life living with an undiagnosed disability.

  It is now self-published to amazon and is receiving fantastic reviews. I just want to say a huge thank you to my RJTK Family for accepting me as I am."

   

  It is out now on Amazon, available in Hardback, Paper Back and Kindle. 

  If anyone has Kindle Unlimited it is FREE to read.

  Link to purchase the book: https://amzn.eu/d/1iBzQMg

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