AuDHD is a shorthand used to describe people who are both Autistic and ADHD. It isn’t an official diagnostic label, but a community-created term many people use because it captures lived experience more accurately than either diagnosis alone.

Autism and ADHD overlap in important ways — sensory differences, emotional intensity, executive functioning challenges — but they can also pull in different directions. For example, autism drives a need for predictability while ADHD leans toward novelty-seeking, leaving people feeling tugged between structure and spontaneity.

For many, discovering the term AuDHD brings a sense of relief. It offers language for experiences that can otherwise feel confusing or contradictory, and it opens the door to community with others navigating a similar mix of traits. At its core, AuDHD names the particular way these two neurotypes intersect and shape how a person thinks, feels, and moves through the world.