## Metadata - Author: [[Sarah Hendrickx]] - Full Title:: Methodical/Mercurial - Category:: #🗞️Articles - URL:: https://aeon.co/essays/welcome-to-the-mixed-up-joyful-world-of-audhd - Read date:: [[2026-11-06]] ## Highlights > At first glance, existing diagnostic criteria for each condition may look like contradictions of each other. While a stereotypical autistic person may present as socially awkward, precise and cautious in language and behaviour, requiring predictability, sameness and calm, our ADHDer looks like the complete opposite. ADHD diagnostic criteria typically present as someone socially driven, scattered and impulsive in language and behaviour, seeking novelty, variety and stimulation. How can it be that both of these seemingly opposing traits can exist in one person, and what is it like for that person when they do? ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m6s6w4vh1xgh3pysmdzc6kdx)) > A 2023 systematic [review](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10498659/) identified 9,050 articles and ultimately included 23 studies; across these, estimates of the prevalence of ADHD symptoms in autistic young people without intellectual disability ranged from 2.6 per cent to 95.5 per cent. Another [paper](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35295773/) suggested that 50 to 70 per cent of autistic people present with comorbid ADHD. If you are reading this article with a diagnosis of autism or ADHD, you may want to think about whether you may be both, because it’s looking increasingly likely that you are. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m6s6xbd8p7fmrjedsgqp5fpq)) > An article by Siân Boyle in *The Guardian* in 2024 described this contradiction in the AuDHD label as one of ‘oxymoronic nature, perpetual internal war and rollercoaster of needs’, which nicely sums things up. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m6s71tr3qm6rvmr8t9nhdmk6))