Maybe you’ve never heard the term “AuDHD,” or perhaps you’ve heard it and have no idea what it means. AuDHD is the shorthand those of us who are both autistic and have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, use to identify ourselves – a simple combination of those two terms.

This is a relatively new term, since before 2013, the DSM did not allow for someone to be diagnosed with both autism and ADHD at the same time. However, there is a huge crossover between these two, as most research indicates 50-70% of autistic people also have ADHD. Both autism and ADHD are also considered to be genetic conditions, with a 50-72% overlap of contributing genetic factors for ADHD and autism.

Within a few minutes of my first appointment with her, my therapist diagnosed me with ADHD in addition to autism. As my therapist informed me, and as the research shows, if you are autistic, the chances that you also have ADHD are pretty high. This was actually a huge surprise to me. With a son who has ADHD, I had done a lot of reading on it and had never seen myself in the condition.

Newer information, however, has done a better job of capturing both the adult woman’s experience of ADHD, but also how the overlap between ADHD and autism might look. For example, I love predictability (autism), but I also love the occasional exciting break from the routine (ADHD). Hyperfocus can be a trait of both autism and ADHD, and I have that in spades. When I’m working, it can be hard to track information in multiple channels for me without leading to burnout, but I have managed to create what others find to be a complicated project management system for myself as a solution. In other words, I contain multitudes.

While I’m still learning how to navigate these two conditions, learning that I’m AuDHD has helped me better understand so much about myself and the way my brain works.