How do you deal with family members who try to invalidate or minimize your symptoms?

This is my first post here, longtime lurker. For most of my life I struggled with finishing tasks, follow-through, forgetfulness, impulsivity, and truly listening to others—especially when things didn’t hold my interest. I often heard words without retaining them, missed social cues, and said things impulsively that hurt people, particularly my family. I also deal with severe rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD), which made daily life exhausting and left me feeling like I was constantly walking on eggshells at home and work.

Last month, after putting it off for years, I finally saw a psychiatrist and started generic Adderall IR. The difference has been life-changing. My mind is quieter, I can think before I speak, my anxiety is gone, and simple daily tasks no longer feel like running a marathon. For the first time, I feel clear-headed and “normal.”

Despite this, my family refuses to acknowledge how much I struggled before being properly medicated. They minimize my symptoms, saying I “functioned fine” for 25 years, that I’m a grown man, or that ADHD diagnoses are easy to get. They continue to judge my past behavior as laziness or lack of effort, rather than untreated ADHD and executive dysfunction. I know I wasn’t always easy to deal with, but I truly don’t think I could have been the person they wanted me to be without treatment.

It’s frustrating and disheartening to feel invalidated by people who can’t see inside my head and won’t take the time to understand my experience. While I’m coping better now and can show real improvements, I still struggle with the feeling that they may never fully understand how hard life was before medication.

TLDR: How do you deal with family members who downplay or invalidate your ADHD symptoms despite clear improvement with treatment?