This is no way disregards the difficulty of living with an actually severe case of ADHD but is not what most of these people are dealing with.
EDIT: many seem to have misunderstood what I mean by this. I’m not saying these people are only claiming to have ADHD to use it as an excuse. What I mean, is that they may very well do have, and they’re using it as an excuse. Mostly to themselves.
As a person with (yes, diagnosed) ADHD, this is pretty harmful. Idk how you’re gonna go get tested if you don’t at least think it’s something that might apply to you.
No one ever thought I had ADHD except my ADHD wife, but the shame of thinking you’re just useless and lazy is incredibly damaging. Even with a diagnosis I can’t afford medication, so my quality of life hasn’t improved at all because I can’t access treatment. My parents said they would “never have thought” I had ADHD despite my assessor saying I fit the symptoms basically to a T.
Most clinicians won’t suggest ADHD as a diagnosis because the patient might not even realize that they have executive dysfunction or problems noticing things. They might have come in for depression and anxiety, not knowing that those are side effects of not being able to manage their ADHD. This is why specialists are necessary, not because ADHD is uncommon.
Edit: Also this opinion is extremely popular, btw. It’s kind of the dominant view everywhere except in very online spaces, where people with ADHD tend to congregate for support and community.