Ahh, this is one of many things I wish my mom understood.

Nothin' better than struggling to do things, then getting berated and called "lazy" for not doing the things. Thank goodness for my dad; when he realized that I struggle with phone calls (including very important ones, like with utilities and bill collectors), he had me sit with him as he initiated such a call. He provided a model of what to do and what to say, which I very much needed. Knowing roughly what to expect doesn't completely take away the anxiety, but it definitely helps.

I still struggle to understand words spoken through a phone, but there's not much I can do about that (except wear earbuds/headphones so I at least hear through both ears.) But that's not ADHD, that's undiagnosed auditory processing issues that may be linked to autism. I also can't hear people well if others are talking around us, as I'm easily distracted by any speech I hear at all, even in languages I don't understand.

On the plus side, I can detect and produce novel language sounds in a way that experts claim shouldn't be possible at my age (over 35.) It's a fun, useless superpower to be able to tell that somebody spent their childhood traveling around a lot, simply by the way they speak.