Is the EEOC Doing Enough To Protect Black Women With ADHD?

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Updated October 15, 2024.

A woman in Louisiana won a $100,000 lawsuit against her employer after she was fired for suspected illegal drug use in January 2022. She lost her job when Adderall was found in her system during a forced drug test.

Her race isn’t disclosed publicly, but one can imagine this scenario wouldn’t have a happy ending if she were Black. 

The woman gave her manager a heads-up about the prescription she took for ADHD. Two months later, her manager asked her to stop taking the medication because she acted “emotional” when taking it. ADHD, a neurological condition typically associated with boys and white men, affects approximately 2.8 percent of adults worldwide, and studies show women and girls are significantly underdiagnosed. Black women and girls are the least likely to receive a diagnosis or medical care. 

If women as a whole are labeled “unstable” when showing signs of ADHD, it’s imaginable that the most underserved neurominority—Black women—will experience worse backlash due to racial and gender bias.

ADHD & Protection Under the Law

ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls it a condition that makes it difficult to concentrate, pay attention to details, or behave with self-control. 

ADHD is genetic and affects how the brain functions. Scientists unequivocally agree it’s a chronic health condition, not a behavior or personality disorder. An official exam from a psychiatrist requires evidence of symptoms showing up in childhood, and having a significant negative impact on a person’s ability to manage a successful personal and professional life in adulthood.

This is why ADHD diagnoses are essential—it is a protected trait under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidelines. A diagnosis is the difference between fair or unfair actions taken against an employee.

Unfortunately, Black women are often employed in sectors or businesses with minimal (if any) legal protections for workers. For example, Black women are more likely to work in low-wage, exempt roles that don’t offer the same legal protection as non-exempt, full-time (and higher-earning) jobs. Black women are often in these jobs because it’s their only option (due to educational and social barriers), which means differently-abled Black women in these roles are more at risk of exploitation. A Black woman is less likely to know about or demand accommodations required by law if she’s too afraid of losing her job.

Signs of ADHD Symptoms at Work

Does sitting through a meeting feel physically painful? 

Do you overlook or forget important details when starting or completing a task? 

Have you been put on a performance improvement plan because you’re repeatedly missing urgent deadlines?

An official diagnosis is likely if the answer to each question is “Yes.” Podcasts and multiple newspapers have interviewed Black women diagnosed late in life, worried about their professional or academic careers being put at risk due to what looks like medical negligence.

Natalie Cort, a Black woman licensed in clinical psychology, described the worst-case scenario—the “misdiagnosis-to-prison pipeline” where more BIPOC adults end up incarcerated due to untreated mental health disorders mistaken for deviance.

Those not in that position may still fear a misdiagnosis-to-unemployment pipeline if the following questions remain unanswered: 

What happens when supervisors mistake incapacity for an unwillingness to work according to their expectations? 

Are bosses legally responsible for giving employees with ADHD or other neurodivergent conditions the accommodations they need to be productive?

When & how to get the EEOC involved

Neurodivergence is the next civil rights fight and Black women need more information on how to protect themselves legally in this arena.

America’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for enforcing anti-discrimination laws that apply to employment or staff recruitment. According to the EEOC, the department resolved over 10 cases it filed on behalf of employees with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) as of 2023. The EEOC also says the number of illegal, prejudiced incidents against neurodivergent employees increased between 2016 and 2020. 

The majority of the cases (10 percent) involved people with anxiety disorders. Still, “neurological impairments” (a category ADHD would fall under) were included in the 38 percent of EEOC charges filed that involved discrimination based on neurological disabilities.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) gives people with ADHD legal protection at schools and places of work. So the answer is clear: if you have an official ADHD diagnosis, you have the right as an American citizen to receive the necessary support to create a conducive work environment.

It’s completely free to file an EEOC complaint, but pursuing a lawsuit in court can be pricey. From an initial Google search, hiring a discrimination lawyer can cost tens of thousands of dollars, plus a percentage of damages owed to you if you win. In 2023, the median weekly wage earned by Black women was less than $1,000 USD, which means most Black women can’t afford that lawyer retainer fee.

The Enforcement and Litigation Statistics page on the EEOC website shows almost $137 million USD given each year to workers who filed disability discrimination lawsuits between 2016 and 2020. But in that same period, the cases won (about 18.7%) are much fewer than those lost (around 67%).

Plaintiffs can’t file an EEOC complaint if their employer has fewer than 15 employees working for them. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, Black people are more likely to be workers rather than owners of small businesses.

Approximately seven percent of children and teens across Africa were diagnosed with ADHD in 2020.  The strength of civil rights and gender-based laws is extremely inconsistent across continental Africa and countries with majority Black populations, leaving African and/or racialized Black women across the diaspora unprotected legally if diagnosed with ADHD. 

Possible Next Steps to Protect Yourself

This page contains a list of resources and tips collected for readers seeking advice and solutions to a pressing concern regarding accommodations at work. Sources for the data and statistics referenced in this article are also linked below:

Research article using data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Journal article published in 2020.

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study published in 2021 reviewing the insurance claims of American children born between 2006 and 2012 (for statistics on diagnosis rates).

Article by Bloomberg Law.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.