For decades, Associate Professor Byron Rangiwai navigated schools, universities, and workplaces that were never built for minds like his—labeled “bright but unfocused” while his ADHD remained invisible and untreated. Diagnosed at 43, Byron now leads groundbreaking work reframing ADHD through a Māori lens, transforming Western deficit models into mana-enhancing, strengths-based frameworks that restore dignity and possibility for his people. This is Byron’s story.
Hikurangi te maunga (Hikurangi is the mountain)
Rangitāiki te awa (Rangitāiki is the river)
Koura te tangata (Koura is the ancestor)
Patuheuheu te hapū (Patuheuheu is the clan)
Ngāi Tūhoe te iwi (Ngāi Tūhoe is the tribe)
Tāwhiuau te maunga (Tāwhiuau is the mountain)
Rangitāiki te awa (Rangitāiki is the river)
Tangiharuru te tangata (Tangiharuru is the ancestor)
Ngāti Manawa te iwi (Ngāti Manawa is the tribe)
Tūwatawata te maunga (Tūwatawata is the mountain)
Whirinaki te awa (Whirinaki is the river)
Wharepākau te tangata (Wharepākau is the ancestor)
Ngāti Whare te iwi (Ngāti Whare is the tribe)
Hikurangi te maunga (Hikurangi is the mountain)
Waiapū te awa (Waiapū is the river)
Porourangi te tangata (Porourangi is the ancestor)
Ngāti Porou te iwi (Ngāti Porou is the tribe)
I was 43 when I finally received an ADHD diagnosis. By then, I had already spent decades fighting to stay afloat in schools, universities, and workplaces never built for people like me.
At school in Murupara, teachers called me "bright but unfocused". What they missed was ADHD, undiagnosed, untreated, and invisible. That invisibility followed me into adulthood, eroding my confidence and shaping years of struggle.
ADHD is one of the most researched conditions in the world, yet Māori voices are silenced in the evidence base. To date, only two published works even touch on ADHD from a Māori perspective, and both were written by me. This silence is not neutral. Without data, there is no policy. Without policy, there are no services. And without services, Māori with ADHD are left to carry the burden alone.
At present, Māori adults with ADHD are severely underserved and neglected by the system. I believe strongly that undiagnosed, untreated, unsupported ADHD is killing our people. Suicide and car accidents are among the leading causes of death for people with ADHD.
At the same time, ADHD itself must be decolonised.Western deficit models define it only as disorder. Māori need frameworks that reframe neurodivergence as strength, not weakness. One example is the word aroreretini, which means “attention goes to many things.”
Unlike the clinical label ADHD, it is a mana-enhancing, strengths-based concept that recognises agility, energy, and curiosity as valuable qualities. Combined with metaphors like the feisty pīwakawaka, Māori can claim new ways of naming and understanding ADHD that restore dignity and possibility.
- Byron Rangiwai
Byron Rangiwai is Associate Professor of Māori and Indigenous Research at Ngā Wai a Te Tūī: Māori and Indigenous Research Centre , Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka – Unitec.
Every ADHD Story Is Different
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