S1 E3 When ADHD Words Hurt (and Heal): How Language Shapes How We See Ourselves

You can’t change what you can’t name and when it comes to ADHD, vocabulary isn’t optional. Women with late diagnoses have been slapped with labels like lazy, flaky, disorganized, or too much. None of those explain what’s actually happening in our brains.

In this episode, Jess and Jeannine dive into why words like time blindness and rejection sensitivity actually matter and how having the right vocabulary can shift the story from shame to self-understanding. We talk about family code words. How naming what’s happening in your ADHD brain can save relationships, sanity, and a whole lot of unnecessary guilt.

This isn’t about fancy labels for the sake of it.  It’s about finally having the language to explain what’s going on, to ourselves and to the people around us.

The truth is, vocabulary isn’t just semantics here. It’s survival.