'I was just called lazy, naughty, bad, useless': Malton man calls for mandatory ADHD education in schools
A man who was told he was "naughty" before being permanently excluded from school says misunderstandings around ADHD were to blame - and now wants mandatory education on it.
Ryan Swain, 36, from Malton, in Yorkshire, was excluded from mainstream education at the age of 14 after his disruptive and impulsive behaviour was seen as 'difficult.'
Throughout his childhood, Ryan was described as "useless, stupid, and irritating" by the adults around him, as well as some of the children.
Ryan, who is now an artist and musician, then spent time in alternative education systems, and when he was 21, he was diagnosed with ADHD.
He said: "It all made sense, then. I had to grieve my childhood. I understood why the things that happened did, and I wish I had done it all different."
Now, Ryan is determined to act as an advocate for neurodivergent children and, as part of ADHD Awareness Month, has started a petition for education around these conditions to improve.
He wants it to be a requirement that all schools teach ADHD & neurodiversity education.
He told Talk to the Press: "I spend my time visiting schools, educating children and staff, and just trying to make that change happen.
"It's turned into a full on national campaign – I get around 200 messages a week from people I've never met, schools I've never heard off asking me to visit and speak about my lived experience with ADHD.
"I set up the petition last week and it's already got over 6,000 signatures."
Ryan says he was born with undiagnosed ADHD and a defect that meant he had a hole in his heart.
However, doctors didn't pick up on his heart condition until he was four years old when he collapsed - despite it usually being caught much earlier than this.
He said: "Normally, a child will be lethargic, they won't eat, they won't drink. But for me, I was the complete opposite. I was always on the go, I had no sense of danger, I acted upon impulse, I talked excessively.
"It was because of my undiagnosed ADHD that they didn't spot the defect.
"Doctors were confused it hadn't been picked up until the age of four, but my brain was doing something different to what my body was.
"And that's what ADHD is. It's a constant war between the brain and the body."
After the operation, Ryan said the symptoms of his ADHD worsened.
He said: "As I got older, the development side of things were more noticeable. I was so far behind, because I just couldn't concentrate or listen.
"I wasn't growing and developing like the other children around me.
"I was just called lazy, naughty, bad, useless. I was told I distracted everyone. I was constantly reminded of the things I couldn't do, not what I could do.
"And the more you tell a child you're not good enough, or they're trouble, the more they believe it.
"Anytime I hear the Coldplay song Trouble now, I still weep. I've been made to feel like trouble my whole life."
And things only got worse for Ryan when he reached secondary school.
"Puberty exacerbated my symptoms, I was much harder to cope with, much harder to be around," he said.
And one afternoon, in the playground, Ryan witnessed someone being bullied. It triggered him, and he became involved in a fight.
The school made the decision to permanently exclude Ryan.
He said: "I never use ADHD as an excuse. I still recognise the consequences of my actions, but I still see it as an explanation as to why certain things can happen.
"Even though my reports all said 'we suspect he has a condition called ADD/ADHD,' nothing was ever done about it. There were no resources in the 90s.
"The teaching staff didn't know anything about it, so I basically spent most of my education being misunderstood, told off, put in detention, and being punished for who I was."
Ryan then attended an alternative education establishment, called a pupil referral unit in Scarborough.
"The PRU saved my life. There was flexible learning and movement breaks. We learnt about each others conditions and the consequences of our actions.
"We learnt about key life skills. It was a different kind of education," Ryan said.
Ryan was officially diagnosed with ADHD when he was 21, in 2011.
He said: "I had a thorough diagnostic process. The whole process took 18 months and it started with my GP who referred me to psychotherapist and neurologist through the NHS.
"They checked everything. My peripheral vision, my brain activity, school reports, history of my childhood. I sat through six sessions, and then I got my diagnosis. It all made sense.
"My dad came with me to every appointment and he got diagnosed with ADHD as exactly the same time."
That's when he knew he wanted to make a change.
"I just wished there was someone like me who could have come into my school and talked about their lived experience, and their understanding of the condition.
"Not because it would cure me or stop the things happening, but because it would mentally prepare me for what was to come," he said.
From then on, Ryan transformed himself into an advocate for neurodivergent education in schools.
Now, he spends his time visiting schools, education establishments and parliament, discussing his experiences and what policy makers, teachers and children can learn from them.
He said: "I'm trying to bring ADHD and neurodiversity lessons into the curriculum, so all young people get an opportunity to learn about them in term times consistently.
"At the moment, it's a bit of a postcode lottery.
"It's been ADHD Awareness Month, and just in the past month I've visited 27 schools. I do it all voluntarily, I don't make a profit.
"It's turned into a full on national campaign – I get around 200 messages a week from people I've never met, schools I've never heard off asking me to visit and speak about my lived experience with ADHD."
Last week, Ryan set up a petition to call for the requirement that all schools teach ADHD & neurodiversity education.
"I set up the petition last week and it's already got over 6,000 signatures. It only needs 10,000 for it to be discussed in Government," Ryan said.
Ryan wants to continue his advocacy and is planning on doing so through the launch of his new virtual lesson: You, Me and ADHD.
He said: "There's only one of me. So I'm launching You, Me and ADHD. It's a virtual, interactive and immersive course that I'm going to give the Department of Education for free.
"It's almost like a public safety video, a virtual lesson.
"In the curriculum, we teach young minds about drugs and alcohol addiction, we have sex education, so why are we not teaching young people about mental health conditions and neurodivergence?"
To sign Ryan's petition, visit: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/781934