Hyperfocus: Meet the reporter who threw herself into the ADHD universe

Join health and science journalist Danielle Elliot as she investigates the rise of women recently diagnosed with ADHD. Listen to Climbing the Walls now.

If you follow ADHD news, you might’ve heard that diagnosis rates in women nearly doubled during the pandemic. Danielle Elliot was one of them, receiving her diagnosis just before she turned 37.

Danielle is also a science and health journalist. So, she did the thing that many reporters are inclined to do — she began investigating this big, new thing in her life and how it fit into the world around her.

As she dug in deeper, she landed on two big questions relating to the pandemic diagnosis boom: Why women? And why now? Her answers culminated in a new podcast from Understood.org called Climbing the Walls. It’s a six-episode series, and the first installment is out now.

This week on Hyperfocus, Danielle visits the show to talk about her ADHD experience and what it’s like reporting a story where you’re one of the characters.

Related resources

• Listen to Climbing the Walls
• I’m a journalist with ADHD. Here’s how I get it done.
• ADHD and women

Timestamps

(1:25) The origins of Danielle’s story 

(7:50) Surprises during the reporting process

(12:05) What it felt like to get a diagnosis 

(22:14) Danielle’s big takeaways from making the show

For a transcript and more resources, visit the Hyperfocus page on Understood.

We’d love to hear from you. Email us at hyperfocus@understood.org.

Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give