You may have seen some new ways to describe when someone is autistic and also has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The term “AuDHD” is being used on social media, with people describing what they experience or have seen as clinicians.
It might seem surprising these two conditions can co-occur, as some traits appear to be almost opposite. For example, autistic individuals usually have fixed routines and prefer things to stay the same, whereas people with ADHD usually get bored with routines and like spontaneity and novelty.
What is AuDHD?
According to Embrace-Autism.com, AuDHD is an unofficial but popular term used to describe individuals who are both autistic and ADHD. This means that an AuDHDer has been self/formally diagnosed with autism and ADHD because they have traits characteristic of both conditions.
How common is AuDHD?
While reporting varies substantially across studies, ADDitude Magazine reports that recent research estimates that 40% to 70% of autistic individuals also have ADHD. While the autism-ADHD link is recognized and increasingly studied today, this wasn’t always the case; until 2013, clinical guidelines stated that autism and ADHD could not be diagnosed simultaneously, indicating the long-held belief that an individual could be autistic or have ADHD, but not both. While this may have maintained clarity between diagnostic categories, this practice also led to many neurodivergent individuals receiving no or incomplete diagnoses due to the non-”typical” presentation of their symptoms.
How are autism and ADHD similar?
According to Medical News Today, Autism and ADHD are similar because they are both neurodevelopmental conditions. This means that they affect how a person’s mind develops, affecting how they perceive, process, and respond to information. The overlapping characteristics of autism and ADHD include:
- Stimming: Short for self-stimulatory behavior, stimming is a feature of both conditions and includes repetitive movements such as tapping, rocking, and noise-making.
- Sensory processing: Both ADHD and autism have sensory processing characteristics. For example, both conditions may cause a person to be over- or under-responsive to sensory stimulation, such as noise, light, and touch.
- Hyperfocus: Autistic people and people with ADHD may both hyperfocus (intensely focus) on things they are interested in.
- Social difficulties: Autistic people and people with ADHD may both experience social difficulties. They may have difficulty responding to or noticing social cues and may not be able to determine whether behavior is socially acceptable.
- Mental health disorders: Anxiety and depression are common in both autistic people and people with ADHD. This may be due to the social challenges they experience and the feeling of being different from their peers.
- Academic or work difficulties: Both ADHD and autism can cause a person to experience challenges in school or at work due to social and attention difficulties.
- Emotional regulation: Both autistic people and people with ADHD may have difficulty regulating their feelings, resulting in emotional outbursts.
- Genetics: Autism and ADHD both have genetic components and may run in families.
How are autism and ADHD different?
Some of the symptoms of autism and ADHD overlap, so it can be difficult for an individual to tell whether they have both conditions. However, there are some key differences between the two.
| Autism | ADHD |
| Has a strong preference for strict routines and familiarity and may experience difficulty with changes or transitions. | Often makes impulsive, unplanned decisions and actions and may get easily bored with routine and crave newness. |
| Has highly focused and specific interests that may be consistent and long lasting. | Has highly focused interests but may easily move from one interest, hobby, or project to the next. |
| May have difficulty with communication in social settings, show withdrawn behaviours, and may prefer to perform activities alone. | May seek social stimulation, be eager to talk or socialize, and seem to be always “on the go.” |
| May show delayed developmental milestones from birth, such as a delayed start in talking. | Does not usually show delayed developmental milestones, and symptoms may first appear between the ages of 3 and 6 years. |
| Regularly experiences sensory sensitivities that can cause significant distress or overwhelm. | Does experience sensory sensitivities, but they may be less pronounced than with autism. |
| Communication issues centre around difficulties with understanding social language, such as sarcasm, and understanding nonverbal cues, such as facial expressions. | Communication issues often relate to difficulties in listening and turn-taking rather than the structural aspects of language. |
Some Unique Signs of AuDHD
Life with both ADHD and autism can be a difficult balancing act; solutions that can help with ADHD can exacerbate autistic characteristics and vice versa. This can feel like a constant push and pull between managing the two, leading to frustration, exhaustion, and even burnout.
On the other hand, people can find that the two conditions can sometimes balance each other out, making some aspects of each neurotype easier to manage. The fact that both conditions coexist means living with AuDHD can look very different from living with only ADHD or only autism, so it can be challenging to diagnose.
Here are some unique characteristics of living with AuDHD and what it can feel like for some people:
Craving change and novelty, but also finding change overwhelming and anxiety-inducing:
Feeling restless and under-stimulated is common for ADHDers. This can be a frustrating and painful experience that makes focusing feel impossible. It usually results in dopamine-seeking quick fixes like spending money or impulsively booking a trip.
AuDHDers also seek dopamine and novelty but often temper those behaviours to suit the needs of their autistic sensitivities. They will typically look for new ways to do a routine in order to work novelty into their day, but may also stick to a familiar process when trying something new. For example, they may try a different snack every day while always having a snack at the same time; and they may also manage the potential overwhelm of going to an unfamiliar restaurant by ordering a familiar dish.
Always developing new routines but struggling to stick to them:
Autistic people thrive on routine: deviating from that routine can be uncomfortable and require some planning. ADHDers, conversely, can find routines difficult to stick to long-term; though, they may be fine in the short term. When someone is living with AuDHD, they most likely crave routine and find sticking to a routine very helpful but will fall out of those routines easily. So they may find they make many helpful routines that work in the short term but don’t last very long. Returning to square one can be tiring for a long time, especially if that routine is integral to managing daily life, such as a busy work schedule.
Living in a chaotic environment but being hyper-organized in other ways:
Whether it’s executive dysfunction or being exhausted after a busy day living in a neurotypical world, both autistic people and ADHDers can struggle to keep up with chores. People with AuDHD will often be very organized in some aspects of their life and find it easy to keep up with some tasks, but other parts of their life can be chaotic. For example, people with AuDHD may not struggle to be up on time because being late makes them anxious but may struggle with time-keeping in other aspects of their life. They may be able to manage important dates and work schedules but forget very simple things in their daily lives. This can lead to intense feelings of frustration and low self-esteem.
It can be difficult to understand why you can keep on top of some things, but not others. The truth is that many aspects of daily life take a lot more energy for AuDHDers than neurotypical people. Even if there are areas where they are especially organized, it may not translate to all areas of their lives.
Having both long-term special interests and frequently changing interests:
People with AuDHD may find that they have a special relationship with their interests that fall somewhere in between autism and ADHD. Whereas ADHDers may cycle through interests and become hyper-fixated for a distinct amount of time, autistic people tend to have very intense interests that last long periods of time. AuDHDers may experience both long-term autistic special interests and briefer hyper-fixations simultaneously. This can be very fulfilling but also frustrating when there’s not enough time to dedicate to multiple hobbies on a deeper level.
Regularly burning out from being too busy and overwhelmed socially but struggling to slow down to recharge:
Managing energy levels can be tough for AuDHDers. People with either diagnosis are prone to burnout, but often, the need to satisfy the dopamine cravings of ADHD can be a fast track to exhaustion when someone also has autism. Having a busy social calendar may feel great in the moment, but not taking adequate time to recharge afterward can become a problem, especially when those activities are sensory overwhelming.
Finding the structure of a school or work environment helpful but struggling with collective spaces:
School and the workplace can be difficult for AuDHDers to manage because it requires balancing two opposing factors: novelty and routine. Having a structured daily routine can be helpful with time management, and the familiarity can be comforting, but the repetitive nature can quickly become boring. Striking the right balance between anchoring repetitive tasks and interesting new projects is key but that isn’t easy to facilitate. Even finding the right work environment can be challenging. Offices and schools can be sensorily overwhelming, but working from home may be impossible or even too lonely for someone with AuDHD.
AuDHD: Life with Autism and ADHD
ADDitude Magazine also added some comments from readers who described the AuDHD experience:
“I often feel like a living contradiction. I want order but cannot maintain it. I want to be systematic and precise but struggle with it, which leaves me constantly feeling not good enough (to my own standards) and like I can never quite ‘get there.’” — Samantha, Australia
“They both amplify my executive functioning differences and sensory challenges. Medicating my ADHD also allows me to ‘push through’ some of my autism differences, which often leads to burnout and sleep issues. Sometimes my traits are in conflict, like wanting to take my time and be perfect but not having the attention span to do so. My ADHD brain signs me up for more than my autistic brain can deliver at times and vice versa.” — Dan, Australia
“My ADHD wants a million things to hyperfocus on while my ASD is happy with one or two. My ADHD wants to do ‘all the things,’ my ASD gets overwhelmed by it. They’re constantly clashing, so I look for ways I can support one with the other.” — Sharyn, Australia
“Autism makes some routine necessary. ADHD rebels against it. I have to make routines that allow me to change out parts. AuDHD keeps my life from becoming boring.” — Cassandra