Whats The Difference Between ADHD & Autism

What's the difference between autism and ADHD? For many people exploring their neurodivergent brains it can be difficult to know which type of neurodiversity to be assessed for. Or perhaps you have been diagnosed with one type but are considering that you might also have the other.

In this video I'm sharing the main differences between autism and ADHD to help people distinguish between the two.

If you'd like to support me as a creator and help me to keep doing what I do:
Join my YouTube club -
Thank me with a small donation -
Buy my merch -

Follow me on TikTok -
💜Follow me on Twitter -
💜Join me on Facebook -

A little bit about me:
Hi I'm Purple Ella and my family is an autism family with three out of five of us on the autistic spectrum. I also have ADHD and connective tissue disorder (hypermobile Ehlers-danlos syndrome). So life can be a challenge but also a lot of fun.

[AurorasWindow]

I always describe myself as someone who craves routines but hate monotony 😅

[Thaelyn]

"ADHD: Being easily distracted & frequently jumping from one task to another" Me, reading through Twitter as you said this, rewinding to hear it again: "....oh"

[simplyvince]

I got my autism diagnosis a week ago and the psychologist said that I also met the criteria for ADHD but that she couldn't prove that it was because I have it so I wasn't diagnosed with that. She was diagnosing me with autism and generalized anxiety disorder (neither was a shock in any way) so due to the overlapping symptoms she didn't want to diagnose me with ADHD until my anxiety is under control enough to tell whether or not the inattention is from that. I think that's a great example of just how much overlap there really is between all of these commonly comorbid conditions. (And in this particular instance I trust that she knows what she's doing and that she wasn't just brushing off symptoms as some doctors do, she seemed very genuine in saying that she wasn't confident enough to say either way on ADHD)

[sarahiforgot]

😂 I have adhd, and about halfway through I realized I had had to rewind the video multiple times bc I hadn't been paying attention, and I had to consciously resist the urge to look for other videos while watching this one. I'm dying, omg.

[kaybray]

Borderline personality disorder also has a large symptom overlap with these, I was diagnosed with BPD. Sometimes I wonder if BPD is just undiagnosed Autism or ADHD with Complex PTSD on top of it.

[neurodivergentdawn]

This video could not have came at a better time.

[vildhallon]

Thank you! I also have this combination of diagnosis and many people will refuse to believe my autism and blame my adhd diagnosis for my autistic behaviours. It can be very frustrating and also makes me question myself. This video helped me trust in my diagnosis.

[abbyapplebee]

I hope in future health professionals integrate ASD and ADHD more, it seems crazy to me that they are separated the way they are. With separate organisations only diagnose one or the other, separate costs involved, and people being misdiagnosed. Great video 👍 🙂

[salo]

Hey there, thank you for your video, I have recently gotten diagnosed with ADHD and experience many Autism symptoms, and since my sister has an autism diagnosis, I will go through a diagnosis process once I have enough spoons for it :)

[raapyna]

I have symptoms from both lists but the adhd traits tend to be more of an issue.

I have at least:
- sensitivity to sound
- sensitivity to sudden changes to plans
- sensitive emotions
- strong moral compass
- sensitivity to unfairness, quick to anger when noticing injustice, combativeness when facing opposition to my values
- difficulty organising tasks in my head and executing them
- difficulty holding things in my mind, forgetfulness in small things
- time blindness, chronic lateness and rush
- losing my train of thought, forgetting what I was doing, bouncing between tasks
- not realizing how I come across as snarky, or using a sarcastic-sounding tone of voice or choise of words when I'm being genuine but the idiomic phrases are too boring and my mind rushes to alter them to make them more interesting and messes up the tone
- Mind rushing with alternative ways to say the same thing and ending up saying a gibberish word that's a combination of the options
- Being bored with most people's conversations because the topic is not interesting or they don't have anything insightful to say about it or no jokes sprinkled in. Spending a lot of time as a spectator to conversations or spacing out / closing off to my own company.
- having a hard time maintaining effort over a longer extention of time and finishing projects
- often feeling like I'm juggling multiple things with luck and fearing when I will drop all of them
- inertia to start or sudden bursts of inspiration or fixating on a problem that lasts 5 hours, and during that time unable to put it down

So like, my motivation to do things is pretty unpredictable and I haven't managed to make realistic schedules for myself yet that would not be straining to try and follow. For some things it's painful to try and focus for two hours and some things I can't stop for 5 hours. It's hard to maintain eating, sleeping, resting routines of 3-hour/8-hour intervals.

This is like a super long, sort of a vent, but maybe someone can relate and finds it interesting to read, idk.
I'm waiting to be assessed for adhd and I kinda want to know if I may have autism to it too because strong noise specifically seems to tick me off and be an issue, especially combined with the lack of resting time from social performance and vigilance to interpret if my company is desired or not and if I'm being misunderstood or if I can interpret other people correctly and whether they hate me or not. It could just be trauma or it could be something behind the trauma. And I wish I could understand and prevent it sometimes before I crash. Because it's not nice to be a difficult person that brings drama where it's not needed. But surpressing my emotions makes me crash harder and take longer to recover from it.

[kenzieelle]

Thank you for this video! When you were talking about how people with ADHD get so overwhelmed by their emotions and feel like they won’t ever not feel that way I really felt understood as that’s exactly how I feel! I’m hoping to get tested for ADD and ADHD this summer.

[veronicabeatrice]

It’s interesting — I have ADHD (combined type) and potentially (though I have doubts) autism as well, and I melt down for the reasons you listed for ADHD (emotional dysregulation, rejection sensitivity, etc.) and ALSO sensory issues. I remember I had a meltdown once in college after a long lecture during which I’d been masking my stims: I was unable to fidget because of the design of the desks.

[michealmurray]

I'm diagnosed ADD but I have a lot of traits of autism that I never really looked at previously. Thank you for making videos about your experience. Gives me the courage to explore this more.

[TheKaliedescope]

"Apparently ADHD is present in 30-80% of autistic people and autism presents in 20-50% of ADHDers."

Wow!! That's a seriously overlapping Venn diagram! If you have citations for these ranges, please share. I really want to follow up about that. 💜

[tracy]

I'm convinced they are just variations of the same condition. I have a non NHS dx of ADHD & am currently awaiting NHS assessments of both ASD & ADHD. It's crazy to assess for both separately. I have 2 children dx ASD. They 100% have the ADHD traits too & would benefit from a trial of meds. This is where the problem lies in the UK. If a person is on meds for ADHD it costs the NHS a lot of money & time in follow up appointments & meds. With an ASD dx they simply send you on your way with a few leaflets.

[trendydelquendy]

That's a really good explanation - I've been trying to tease out the differences between ADHD and Autism for 2 years. Thank you.

[britneytalbot]

This was so helpful, thank you for this video!

I was diagnosed with ADHD.

I absolutely hate when plans are changed only when they are moved earlier because all of a sudden, I have less time to get everything done. However, I’m usually relieved to hear when plans are moved back because I will have more time to prepare.

[dont_harsh_my_mellow]

Just a heads up with regards to the ADHD exclusive symptoms, a lot of them are more male-predominant symptoms. Female people with ADHD have different - and more inattentive - types of symptoms.

[pashpash]

Thank you Ella! I've been diagnosed with ADHD1 last week and I find myself also kind of doubting my autism diagnotic thinking that after all it might have been my ADHD triggering the autistic traits..but it may actually be the other way around...🤔 I find it interesting to understand how the two conditions overlap and create a pretty unique and complex picture! 🌈

[Bearingz]

Thank you so much for this video. I've been confused since being diagnosed with autism and this has really helped clarify a number of questions in my head! :)