Navigating Disability

Lost in Plain Sight: An ADHD Journey to Self-Discovery

• Kate Read and Jenn Abbott • Season 1 • Episode 57

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In this reflective episode, Navigating Disability sit down with Abdul Haseeb, a figure whose personal story has inspired a global conversation. 

Known as Pakistan's first ADHD coach, Haseeb's true identity is that of a neurodiversity storyteller and mental health advocate who speaks from the heart of lived experience.

Haseeb’s relationship with ADHD began at 14, with a diagnosis that came thanks to his uncle's observation. Growing up in an environment with no framework or support for neurodivergence, his diagnosis was a label without a guidebook. 

He was left to navigate the complexities of his own mind alone, facing what he calls "the ADHD effect": an internal force that constantly drove him to leave his comfort zone, yet also trapped him in a cycle of impossibly high standards and relentless self-criticism.

This conversation delves into the intimate and often unseen emotional landscape of that journey. Haseeb opens up about the weight of those self-imposed expectations, the stress that became a familiar shadow, and his long, deliberate path toward self-acceptance.

He shares the shift in learning to "bomb" himself with positivity—a conscious, daily practice of countering ingrained negativity with radical self-kindness.

Now staying in Perth, with a perspective shaped by connections across cultures and continents, Haseeb discusses the universal themes of finding one's place in a world not designed for you. He also touches on the origins of the ADHD Rebel Center not as a service, but as a concept born from a community's need for recognition and understanding.

Connect with Haseeb through his socials: