Ted, ADHD, and the Boy Nobody Understood
Why I wrote Ted December 23, 2025 People see Ted as the “outsider.” The kid who does not fit the system, does not fit the room, and often gets judged before he even speaks. That part is real. Ted is not a copy of me, but he carries pieces of me and pieces of people I have known. I grew up on a council estate in Roehampton, near Putney Heath. I have ADHD and dyslexia, and as a kid I was a handful. Restless. Loud. Stubborn. The kind of child adults label before they understand. I did not write Ted to make a point. I wrote him because I recognise him. Ted is not “bad.” He is overloaded. A lot of kids like Ted get treated as if they are choosing chaos. As if they want to be difficult. But what it often looks like from the inside is simpler and harder to explain. It is frustration that comes out sideways. It is emotions arriving too fast. It is trying, failing, then deciding you must be the problem. When school is built around sitting still, reading cleanly, and behaving on...