Azryah Harvey is an anti-racism consultant, public speaker, writer, and content creator. She was diagnosed with ADHD aged 30 after suspecting she was living with the condition for a few years. While apprehensive about securing the diagnosis, Azryah felt validated when she received an ADHD diagnosis as it explained many of the challenges she had been experiencing. Up to 75% of women living with ADHD are undiagnosed in the UK alone.
Azryah is an ADHD Ambassador for Staring Back at you Campaign by Takeda UK. She feels very strongly about ADHD and special educational needs in general - she was a teacher and pastoral lead in an SEN school for years - and she feels there is a very delicate balance between acknowledging your needs and advocating for yourself so you are accommodated correctly and also recognising that a portion of our issues is not that we have a disability, but more that the world is often a very rigid and discriminatory place.
Having ADHD can be very challenging, but not knowing you have it compounds everything! Creating that awareness and alerting people to the signs, she believes, will change lives. And as a woman we are socialised in a way that tells us to prioritise the needs of others. This campaign encourages women and non-binary people to prioritise themselves!
Azryah believes that we must find the strength to reject those ideals and acknowledge that there is nothing ‘wrong’ with us, but that the world does not account for or embrace difference and diversity the way it should.
The anti-racism work she does in schools consists of training, policy work, curriculum work and pupil workshops. They work with the entire school body to assess what areas the school need support in and use a holistic approach to increase racial literacy. The company is run predominantly by black women, so we use that sense that advocate for black and other ethnic minority groups and aim to improve the well being and quality of teaching for all children.
Thanks Azryah for sharing your journey to ADHD diagnosis and how you are helping schools to embrace diversity in all its forms. Thanks also for showing us how our difference can be our superpower
You can find out more about the Staring Back at Me campaign on https://staringbackatme.org.uk/
And follow her on Linkedin @Azryahharvey
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