My Boss Doesn't Believe ADHD Is Real | Dr. Bowen Marshall

A viewer sent in a question that a lot of neurodivergent professionals are sitting with right now. Their boss doesn't believe ADHD is real, and they suspect that boss might be neurodivergent themselves. Dr. Bowen Marshall's answer reframes the whole situation: the resistance isn't about you. It's about them.

You've done the hardest part of unmasking, which is asking for help. And then the person with power over your career looked at you and said no. That moment doesn't just sting. It confirms every reason you had for keeping the mask on in the first place.

Brett and Bowen get into why that happens, what it says about the manager, and what you can actually do about it. They also cover the history of management culture and what it continues to demand from neurodivergent employees, why neurodivergent professionals sometimes become each other's biggest obstacles at work, deliberative processing and the professional cost of not having a quick answer ready in a meeting, recovery versus reconstitution at the end of a workday and why those are not the same thing, and practical scripts and strategies for getting your needs met without disclosing your diagnosis.

Topics covered in this episode:
*Why a neurodivergent boss may be your greatest skeptic
*Internalized neurophobia and what it looks like in leadership
*Masking until burnout and asking for help
*Why neurodivergents sometimes take advantage of other neurodivergents at work
*Recovery versus reconstitution after a workday
*Deliberative processing and the cost of not having a quick answer
*Fawning and people pleasing under a resistant manager
*The history of management culture and compliance
*Authenticity versus consistency at work
*Workplace scripts to buy processing time in meetings
*The test balloon approach to figuring out who is safe to talk to at work
*When to go to HR after a negative disclosure response

Dr. Bowen Marshall, PhD is a licensed psychotherapist, author, and career coach specializing in ADHD, Autism, and neurodivergent career development. As part of his work, he helps neurodivergents navigate the complexity of career demands helping ADHDers, AuDHDers and Autistics find and create systems, workflows, and leadership styles that help them succeed and thrive at work and life.

Check out Bowen's Substack
Subscribe to Bowen's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DrBoTyler

Drains and Sparks: An AuDHD Workplace Workbook: https://payhip.com/AuDHDBoss

Book a coaching call or speaking engagement: audhdBoss.com