Lost Generation

In ADHD and autism discourse, the term refers to adults — particularly women, minority genders, and people of colour — who went undiagnosed as children due to gendered diagnostic criteria, systemic medical bias, and the historical exclusion of non-white, non-male bodies from clinical research. Many members of this cohort only discover their neurodivergence in adulthood, often through online communities, after years of masking, misdiagnosis, or being dismissed by care providers.