Poorly-named affliction

Especially when you don’t have the hyperactivity part (used to be ADD, now it’s ADHD - inattentive type), this makes so much sense as to why I was just called lazy and sensitive as a kid and teenager. Getting diagnosed in my late 20s made so many things make sense in hindsight.
- Can you expand on the lazy and sensitive parts? :)
  
  A better name for the syndrome would be Executive Function Disorder. Executive Function is the term used to describe the ability to exercise agency and rational judgement when making decisions. Disorders of executive function leave a person having difficulty not responding impulsively. This affects attention; what I decide to pay attention to, and how long I hold my attention there, and it also affects emotional expression, how well I maintain an even keel and exercise control over how strongly my emotions become and how they influence my behavior. In ADHD people have difficulty deciding where their attention will go and also tend to be more emotionally labile. Shame sensitivity is frequently reported.
  
  Oh, sure! The other comments did a pretty good job of explaining things. In my case, I struggled a lot with procrastination and getting sidetracked easily, which led to the lazy descriptor. And as for the sensitive, I tend to feel my emotions strongly and quickly, and I also have rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD), so I tend to easily assume I’m being socially rejected
- Oooh so that's what inattentive is. I'm getting assessed in a week or so and for the pre-session questionnaire I was wondering what it meant if I didn't have any of the "driven by a motor" symptoms.
  I got called lazy and sensitive all the time too.

"Sensitivity to justice? That is a problem that must be cured." - what capitalism does to a mf-er
- Just to be clear, what the DSM-5 means there isn't "I'm mad that people are clubbing baby seals to death", they mean "Greg didn't take out the garbage like he promised, which is unfair and makes me so angry I can't look at him without chewing him out about it". It's an exaggeration of a normal human thing to the point that it impairs other stuff such a peaceful cohabitation.

Most disorders/diseases are too complex to have a short name that accuratley describes what they are so I don't think a disorder being 'poorly' named is that big of a deal.
- At least come up with a fancy word for it like Wombleypoos or something
  
  And add colours and levels for extra flavour.
  They are diagnosed with Green Level 3 Wombleypoos, just keep them away from the level 2's to avoid the floop scenario!
  
  Oh I think I had that after gelatin fest from the old country
- Yeah, this is why I am a fan of naming them after patient zero, or the first to diagnose etc.
  
  The WHO discourages this because people will start associating the name with the disease. Which sucks if you happen to have this name. See Tourette's, or Chagas disease.
  You can read a bit about it here.

It should be called Executive Dysfunction, but I don't really want to tell people "I have ED"
- Call it executive malfunction disorder

Well it is a behavior disorder. If you don't have disruptive behavior, plenty of other psychiatric conditions cause the same or worse executive dysfunction (e.g., bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder) and the same or worse social anxiety and rejection sensitivity (e.g., social anxiety disorder). Let's not pretend like ADHD isn't difficult for others around the individual to deal with; it is, by definition, if someone has it.
Ask me if you'd like sources for any of the above.

i usually explain that it should be read as attention-(deficit/hyperactive) disorder
- This is one case where introducing logical operators into written language could be helpful.
  Ex. Attention (Deficit || Hyperactivity) Disorder.

They don't want to change it (at least in the US) because a lot of protections mention it by name.
So if the name changed, it would remove/weaken a lot of the legal protections.

If they change the name, people who get coverage and help from programs will experience a lapse of coverage and help until every little department and organization and office in the kluge help network all have the new name fully integrated into their systems, which could be years.
- What are you basing this on? Does this happen every time the DSM is updated? I kind of doubt it.

- It can do that, but it can also make it so that it is difficult for you to do anything other than perform that one task for 2 hours.