Sue Perkins ADHD: Diagnosed Online at 53, Given Little Support, and Now Building It for Others

Diagnosed, then not much

The Sue Perkins ADHD story isn't new. She first spoke publicly about her diagnosis in January 2023, when she was 53. What she's talking about now is what happened next. On the 29 October episode of the podcast I'm ADHD! No You're Not, hosted by Dr Mine Conkbayir and Paul Whitehouse, she said her assessment was done online and that there was very little support once she had the diagnosis.

Building the missing support

She told the hosts that's partly why she made her new audio memoir. She wants it to reach other people who feel the same way, build a community of listeners and offer some of the aftercare she didn't get herself. She also said she knows she was lucky to be able to pay for a diagnosis, and that a lot of people can't.

What's in the memoir

Attention, Please! Tales From a Distracted Mind came out on Audible on 19 October. Deadline reports it mixes dramatic recreations, live conversations and music by Joe Zeitlin. She talks to psychologist Dr Tara Quinn-Cirillo, neuroscience expert Professor Ellie Dommett and endocrinologist Professor Niamh Martin.

In her own words: "I've spent most of my adult life feeling like I'm wired slightly wrong. Like everyone else got an instruction manual and mine got lost in the post." She described getting the diagnosis later in life as "equal parts relief and 'Oh God, now what?'"

Shame and the Terminator

The podcast episode covers the relentless inner voice she calls "the Terminator" and "the shame, self doubt and overwhelm that can come with ADHD". It also covers "why she wants to be understood, not medicalised". That's her view of her own experience. Treatment decisions are personal, and a GP or prescriber is the right person to talk them through with.

The now what bit

"Now what?" will sound familiar to a lot of people diagnosed as adults. The diagnosis can feel like the finish line, but it's often where the real work of figuring out what helps begins.

Perkins is doing that in public, and with jokes. At one point in the memoir, by her own account, she ends up "doing equine therapy in the rain". She's also taking her stand-up show, The Eternal Shame of Sue Perkins, on tour from January to April 2027.