Are We Failing Neurodivergent South Asians?
ADHD and autism diagnoses seem to be climbing. But that might not be true for one population.
As a kid, Sampada Kaul, now 22, often struggled to pay attention in class. By 13, she developed an “obsessive” fear of eating, worrying she might choke or vomit, she told The Juggernaut. She found bright lights and people so overwhelming that school triggered mental breakdowns. “I would always tell my parents, ‘Please don’t make me go to school,’” she shared. Her parents just thought she was an “undisciplined kid,” and threatened to send her to boarding school.
Soon after she began college, her mental health deteriorated to the point where she had to drop out. She finally got diagnosed with ADHD at age 20 and autism at 21.
Kaul is among South Asians around the world whose neurodivergence — when your brain works differently — went undiagnosed in childhood. In recent years, as purported rates of ADHD have grown in colleges, are South Asians slipping through the cracks? The Juggernaut spoke to experts and neurodivergent South Asians to find out.