By Berenice Rosales-Nadel, LMHC-D
Clinical Director and Founder, You Can Do It, PLLC
Short answer to the question in the title: yes, you can have both, and many people do. ADHD and autism overlap enough to be mistaken for one another, yet they are distinct, and telling them apart, or recognizing when both are present, changes what actually helps. Here is how they differ, where they blur, and why an accurate picture is worth getting.
Can You Have Both ADHD and Autism?
Yes. For years, the diagnostic system said otherwise; the DSM-IV did not permit clinicians to diagnose autism and ADHD in the same person. That changed with the DSM-5 in 2013, which recognized what clinicians had long seen in practice: the two conditions frequently travel together. Estimates vary, but a large share of autistic people also meet the criteria for ADHD, and the pairing is common enough that it has an informal name, AuDHD.
Having both is simply a fuller description of how one brain is put together, each set of wiring shaping the other.
How ADHD and Autism Differ
At their cores, the two conditions point in different directions.
ADHD is fundamentally about regulation, of attention, activity, and impulse. The familiar threads are distractibility, restlessness, acting before thinking, and a pull toward novelty and stimulation.
Autism is fundamentally about how a person processes social information and their surroundings. The familiar threads are differences in social communication, a preference for predictability and routine, deep and focused interests, and distinctive sensory experiences.
Put simply, ADHD often pulls someone toward more input and change, while autism often pulls toward less, and toward the comfort of the familiar. That contrast is one of the clearest ways to tell them apart.
Where They Overlap (and Why They Get Confused)
For all those differences, ADHD and autism share a lot of surface territory, which is why one is so often mistaken for the other.
Both can involve trouble with executive function, the mental machinery of planning, starting, and switching tasks. Both can make social situations tiring, though for different reasons: an autistic person may find the unwritten rules genuinely puzzling, while someone with ADHD may know the rules and still interrupt or lose the thread. Both can bring sensory sensitivity and intense focus. And both are frequently masked, especially by adults who have spent years building workarounds, which hides the very traits an evaluation is trying to see.
Why an Accurate Picture Matters
When two things look alike, it is tempting to settle for whichever label lands first. The trouble is that support built for one does not fully fit the other, and when both are present, addressing only one leaves real gaps. Strategies that satisfy an ADHD brain’s craving for stimulation can overwhelm an autistic nervous system that needs less of it. Naming everything that is actually there, ADHD, autism, or both, is what lets support match the person.
How Evaluation Works When Both Are on the Table
A good assessment does not force a choice before the evidence is in. It gathers developmental history, current functioning, and standardized measures for each condition, autism-specific tools like the ADOS-2 and ADI-R alongside ADHD rating scales, and reads them together. The aim is an outcome that fits the person, whether that turns out to be one diagnosis, the other, or both.
A Note on Seeing the Whole Person
Some of the most moving evaluations I do are with people who were handed one label years ago and always felt it told only half the story. When the fuller picture finally comes into view, something in them settles. They stop trying to fold themselves into an explanation that never quite fit, and start working with a mind that runs on more than one current at once. Reaching that fuller view, and handing it back to the person it belongs to, is the part of this work I care about most.
ADHD and Autism Evaluations in New York and New Jersey
If you have wondered whether the answer is ADHD, autism, or some of both, an evaluation can sort it out. You Can Do It, PLLC provides ADHD and autism evaluations for adults across New York and New Jersey, in person in Midtown Manhattan and NoMad and by secure telehealth statewide in both states. Autism evaluations are also offered in person in Montclair, New Jersey, with appointment details shared at booking.
Berenice Rosales-Nadel, LMHC-D, is trained in the ADOS-2 and ADI-R through the Sunfield Institute and evaluates for both conditions. No referral is needed to begin.