Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am sure that is tough for people listening in. There is a lot of talk from people in my circle. Finally, I want to ask about people who are steered away from pursuing this. I can probably guess what the answer will be. It seems crazy because we would never discourage people from getting any other diagnosis. We never dream of telling someone who may potentially have cancer that they would be better off to just leave it. It seems wild to me that this seems to happen in the mental health sphere, in particular with ADHD. There seems to be discouragement, even from some medical professions, against pursuing this diagnosis. It is suggested that because people have lived so long without it, they have no need to do that. How would the witnesses advise someone to go forward, who has received that discouragement, either from family, friend circle, or indeed the medical sphere?

As I said, once that penny has perhaps dropped and we have opened up the can of worms of self-realisation, it is very hard to put it away again. What do the representatives have to say about people proceeding forward when they are faced with resistance, possibly from the medical community but certainly from their own friends and circle? That is not even going into the resistance they themselves have, if they want to take that next step but are being advised not to do it.