My name is ErikAnderson.
I am an ADHD coach and I want to be a resource for you.
TL;DR: Here are some things to know about me so you have a better idea of what I bring to this conversation.
- I do impossible things. I have a unique perspective on the word impossible and I show others THEY can do impossible things too.
- I grew up with a disability so I understand what it’s like to feel different.
- I am an advocate. I believe people are capable of far more than the labels and limitations that are thrust upon them.
- I understand ADHD. I have studied it, educated others about it, and most importantly I live it. (Not only that but I’m doing ADHD in “hard mode” — more on THAT below).
That’s it in a nutshell, but if you want to know the whole story, read on …
I grew up with a disability.
I was born with Cerebral Palsy. I learned firsthand how difficult it can be to navigate the system just to get the things you need to live.
Growing up, I learned the medical model is broken, and the educational system does not support exceptionality. It also doesn’t prepare kids with disabilities for the real world — the employment system doesn’t care if you don’t fit in the middle of the bell curve … and they certainly don’t give out participation ribbons.
But, I was lucky. My mother was an amazing advocate. And she taught me how to be an effective advocate. When the traditional disability system didn’t give us what we needed, we forged our own path.
I became a life-long advocate for system change.
I got involved.
I started working with disability organizations and advocacy in the late 1980s. Eventually I became the Affirmative Action/ADA/Diversity Coordinator for the State of Iowa in 1998.
Working for the state I saw the ways disenfranchised populations were discouraged (or even excluded) from participation and all the things that kept their voices from being heard.
So I did what I always do. I created change. I was part of a successful effort in 1999 to specifically include “gender identity” in Iowa’s state EOE (Equal Opportunity in Employment) anti-discrimination policy.
In 2001 I became a Family Support Coordinator working under a Federal mandate as part of I.D.E.A. (The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).
I worked with parents of children with disabilities to get services and accommodations in public schools.
And I learned the power of direct one-on-one advocacy to create meaningful change.
Not only that …
I learned I had ADHD.
In 2003 I was attending a conference where a friend of mine was a keynote speaker. They talked about their struggle with ADHD.
It was a surreal experience because it felt like they took all of it, word for word, out of the diary I never wrote.
Learning about my ADHD as an adult changed everything I thought I knew about myself. Up to that point, the world had always tried to define me by the visible disability it could see.
The hardest thing about my CP wasn’t the disability itself. It was other people telling me what THEY thought I could or couldn’t do.
My ADHD didn’t show, so my real struggle was invisible to the rest of the world.
Suddenly a lot of things made sense. I had always known my brain didn’t seem to work the same way everyone else’s did. Now I knew why.
I learned several very important things that changed my life:
- I wasn’t the first person to experience this.
- I was not lazy, crazy, or broken.
- There were strategies for ADHD out there that worked.
- Along with the challenges, ADHD also gave me some amazing strengths.
- And I was not alone.
- I learned to work with my brain instead of fighting it.
Everything in my life improved; My work, my relationships … my sense of self.
It was a particularly fulfilling time in my life. I did a lot of good work and I helped a lot of people.
But eventually I got burned out.
Changes on the state and national level were suddenly making the advocacy work I was doing much more difficult. Plus, I was exhausted. By this time, I had been fighting for change and beating my head against the system for decades.
I needed a change. I needed to do something where I saw people at their best.
So in 2007 I left institutional advocacy behind, and took a mental health … decade.
I did something completely different.
I went back to the world I grew up in.
My family business was racing horses, which meant I spent my childhood on county fair midways and parimutuel horse tracks across the Midwest. My mentors growing up were carnies, pitchmen, gamblers, grifters, magicians, and fortune-tellers. It was a pretty AMAZING childhood.
I drew on all that experience and became an outdoor showman performing at fairs and festivals. I even did a comedy traveling medicine show complete with medicine show wagon. It was a lot of fun.
And I learned how to do “impossible” things.
It gave me an opportunity to study the psychology (and sometimes ruthlessly effective methods) used by the hidden communities and subcultures that exist and even thrive outside the system.
I learned the art of the pitch and the fast talk, and underground secrets of persuasion and influence.
It was a guerrilla course in motivation, marketing, and communication.
Most importantly, I learned that if you want results, you have to work with things the way they really are, not how you wish they were. You have to be willing to do what actually works, not what you think should.
Then disaster happened
In 2015 (on my birthday no less!), while working an outdoor event, I got heat stroke. Not to put too fine a point on it, it nearly killed me. As a result, I lost the ability to tolerate heat, which meant I couldn’t work outdoors anymore. But that wasn’t the only thing. Shortly after that I developed Type 2 Diabetes.
And suddenly, I was doing ADHD in “hard mode!” Everything was more difficult. I got help, but I struggled with diet and lifestyle changes. Everything was falling apart. Nothing seemed to work.
But I knew there HAD to be a better way!
Because, what I was seeing was how all the standard approaches to self-improvement and creating change didn’t seem to fit me and absolutely didn’t work. Okay, that’s not entirely true, they did a TERRIFIC job creating a sense of failure and shame. It quickly became very clear to me how important it is to work with someone who is specifically trained in the things YOU’RE struggling with. It wasn’t until later (after I became an ADHD coach) that I learned why.
So I became an ADHD coach.
I realized if I wanted something that was going to fit the intersectionality of my unique situation (Cerebral Palsy, Diabetes and ADHD), I was going to have to create it myself.
Plus, I missed being an advocate and helping others.
But neurotypical coaching models didn’t fit. And I certainly didn’t want to go back to institutional advocacy. I wanted to work with people directly, without the bureaucracy and red tape.
I enrolled at the ADD Coach Academy.
It was an amazing experience! While I had done ADHD education and training programs as part of my work in school advocacy, that had been a long time ago. A lot had changed in the last decade.
ADHD coaching training taught me
- WHY things are often harder for ADHD brains.
- HOW to leverage the strengths of ADHD brains to overcome ADHD challenges
- WHAT tools are available to get traction and take action (and, more importantly how to use them)
Finally, in 2018 I received my certification as an ADHD coach so I had the tools for my own success and I could work one-on-one, outside the system to help others like me who are ADHD+ create their own success.
And I’ve been doing that ever since.
Now I’m a freelance agent for change working with people one-on-one.
So now, instead of fighting systemic limitations, I challenge labels and personal beliefs that don’t serve us. Instead of finding “best practices,” I help people find their “best self.”
And because I’m now working outside The System (and the bureaucracy), I can use ALL the tools I have at my disposal, and make a REAL difference.
Which is just another way of saying …
I get to show people how THEY can do impossible things.
BEST. JOB. EVER.