Slip the way your ADHD works into your email signature, without making it a topic
A discreet link in your email signature, and every recipient can learn more about how you work, whenever they want. No more explaining it to each new person in a meeting.
This case concerns an adult with ADHD who wants to take back control over what is said about their lapses of memory, without declaring themselves in a full meeting or making an official announcement.
The moment it happens
Tuesday 9:30 a.m. You have forgotten the meeting that started fifteen minutes ago. You arrive, embarrassed, you apologize. The manager presses their lips together. Again. The colleague next to you rolls their eyes. You can feel it: the gossip is starting.
You add a discreet link to your email signature: "Learn more about how I work." No direct mention of ADHD in the signature, just a neutral phrase. Colleagues who want to understand click, scan, read it in a few minutes.
Three weeks later, the manager has a check-in. Without making a scene, they suggest: "Could we send each other a recap fifteen minutes before important meetings?" You did not ask for anything. The recap helps. The lapses go down. No one had to put the word "ADHD" on the table.
- You write it
- The QR is in place
- The reader scans
- Understood, without explaining again
Where to place the QR for this case
The idea: that the information is available to whoever wants to understand, without imposing itself on anyone who would rather not know.
- Text link at the bottom of the professional email signature, worded plainly ("Learn more about how I work").
- Link in the Slack or Teams bio, next to the time zone.
- Link shared at the start of a recurring meeting (for example, at the first team check-in).
- Wallet-sized card placed on the desk, for colleagues who prefer paper.
The QR works like an opt-in: those who want to understand do, those who do not are not required to know.
Pre-written text templates
Three drafts to explain ADHD without pathos or emotional overload.
For the "Introduction" section
"I have ADHD (attention deficit disorder, with or without hyperactivity). In practice, my brain struggles to filter what matters in the moment: I can be hyper-focused on one topic and completely absent on another, one after the other."
For the "How to help" section
"What works: a reminder fifteen minutes before an important meeting, a written format for complex instructions, an asynchronous channel (Slack, email) rather than an interruption in the open space, a clear framework on the priorities of the moment."
For the "Things to avoid" section
"Things to avoid: reading a forgotten task as a lack of commitment, giving me an important instruction out loud in the middle of my work flow, piling up parallel topics with no hierarchy, commenting on my lapses in a meeting."
Conditions covered
ADHD is central. It is often associated with dyslexia, dyspraxia or sensory hypersensitivity, which can broaden the useful adjustments.
Similar cases
Three other workplace situations where the person chooses when and to whom they explain how they work.
The teacher understands the atypical social behaviours and can pass the useful information on to the teaching team.
View the case High-school student with ADHD, age 17 Reader: Tutor teacher, school liaisonThe tutor understands the organisation difficulties and can suggest concrete accommodations for exams.
View the case Adult with social anxiety, age 28 Reader: HR, direct managerThe accommodations are understood without the person having to justify every request over and over.
View the caseSet up your profile for this situation, without having to re-explain it every school year.
You write the essentials once. The grading teacher, the support staff, the substitute scan and understand. You stop repeating yourself.