Latest posts tagged with #autisticMasking on Bluesky
I spent hours cooking for a table that remained empty. To me, a vague "okay" was a contractual commitment. To my guests, it meant nothing at all.
I discovered at forty-eight that my world is built on words that mean exactly what they say.
In this article, I analyze seven traits I have only now […]
At some point after learning to unmask, I started incorporating back more sensitivity and more attunement to the other person. Thinking about what their history is. What is it that they need? What will go over well? 1/2
#ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity #AuDHD #AutisticMasking #unmasking
The book, "Autistic Masking: Understanding Identity Management and the Role of Stigma," by Amy Pearson and Kieran Rose. The cover is charcoal grey with a picture of a colorful chameleon on a branch. There are several sticky tabs hanging out of the book. The book is sitting on a grey and floral cushion.
Uta Frith says masking isn't real. Huh. That's weird, because there's a whole academic book (among other things) written about it.
Autistic Masking was published in 2023.
Somehow, I doubt she's read it. Sigh.
#AutisticMasking #AutismResearch #AuDHD
Happening tonight at 6pm UK time! Autistic Masking and Identity!
neurohub.blog/events/6D0A7E
#ActuallyAutistic #autisticmasking #autisticidentity #autiaticwellbeing
Autistic masking is a trauma response; there was a good reason why it started, and it’s going to bring up all sorts of insecurities to not protect yourself in this way. 1/2
#AutisticMasking #unmasking #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity
I think the essence of masking is that you're taking on harm to yourself in order to avoid doing harm to others.
#AutisticMasking #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity #AuDHD
We can only override our needs for so long before the effects of doing so become unignorable.
#AutisticMasking #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity #AuDHD #unmasking #AutisticBurnout
However someone reacts to you disclosing to them that you’re autistic, that’s just their first reaction. It’s not necessarily going to be their last reaction.
#AutisticMasking #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity #unmasking
A functional #autistic life doesn’t come from imitating a neurotypical life.
#AutisticMasking #ActuallyAutistic #Neurodiversity #AuDHD #unmasking
Masking is a verb. They are things some of us do, not who we are.
I see them as descriptions of how I sometimes get by in the world, not a label of who I am.
#AutisticMasking #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity #AuDHD
Unmasking My Wardrobe Color Choices
buff.ly/FioQHRS
#AutisticMasking #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity #AuDHD #unmasking
Pretending not to be autistic, or to be like everybody else, takes so much energy and effort that there is little left for dealing with things that come up as part of everyday life.
#AutisticMasking #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity #AuDHD #unmasking #AutisticBurnout
There is no right or wrong answer on who you disclose your autism to. There are only choices and results, and you get to decide which combination you’re more willing to live with.
#AutisticMasking #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity #unmasking
For those of us who mask, it is often some version of oppressing ourselves, of believing that we were wrong to be the way we were. And at some point that was a belief that was helpful to us.
But it’s also a lie, and you don’t have to live with that forever.
#AutisticMasking #unmasking
Why You Hate Being Perceived
buff.ly/GVNyBhI
#ActuallyAutistic #AuDHD #Anxiety #AutisticMasking #unmasking
Unmasking your (autism/NDness) around family can be so hard if they were a big part of why you started. It’s okay to mask if you need to, to get through family time.
#AutisticMasking #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity #unmasking
The conversation about disclosing that you’re autistic isn’t simply imparting information to another person. You’re asking someone to reevaluate and change their conception of who you are.
#unmasking #AutisticMasking #AuDHD #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity
However someone responds to you telling them you’re autistic has a lot more to do with them than with you.
#unmasking #AutisticMasking #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity
Autistic masking makes autism a sort of ‘friendly disability,’ where I suffer so my friend (etc.) doesn't have to. I go out of my way to be "not a problem," so others aren't inconvenienced. It's exhausting.
#AutisticMasking #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity #AuDHD
Jade Farrington and I have published a new piece exploring #Autisticmasking and what 'unmasking' safely actually involves.
It brings together research, context and practical reflections often missing from mainstream discussions.
jadefarrington.substack.com/p/delving-in...
When we try to just “get over it”, we don’t learn how to deal with our own internal reactions to things in a more positive, useful way. All of the intensity just gets stored up and we brace ourselves against it.
#ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity #AuDHD #unmasking #AutisticMasking #Sensory
A lot of us have been conditioned, often unintentionally but still very heavily, to deny aspects of our own experience.
#AutisticMasking #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity #AuDHD
If what you want is to meet people that understand you, but you're pretending to be someone that you're not, then no one who you ever encounter is going to really understand you.
#AutisticMasking #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity #AuDHD
Most of us, to varying degrees, learn to suppress our wants in order to live around other people. Or, we become so convinced that our wants are inappropriate that we suppress them.
#AutisticMasking #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity #AuDHD
Instead of, “I can’t unmask because no one will accept me,” what if it’s, “I must unmask because people already aren’t accepting this masked me?” What if it’s, “I need to find out who will accept the real me.”
#unmasking #AutisticMasking #AuDHD #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity
A reflection on autistic masking, trauma, and transformation, where survival becomes sovereignty.
#Autism #psychology #psychoanalysis #Philosophy #AutisticMasking #masking
medium.com/@christian.g...
A reflection on autistic masking, trauma, and transformation — where survival becomes sovereignty.
The Mask of Hades explores the archetypal power hidden behind invisibility, and the paradox of a truth that must wear a mask to endure.
#Autism #psychology #psychoanalysis #Philosophy […]
New publication Jones, Sharpe, King, Waldeck, & Tyndall (2025). Putting on a disguise to fit in: A mixed methods study of experiences in autistic camouflaging. Research in Neurodiversity. #autism #autisticmasking #camouflaging #autisticcamouflaging #assimilation #compensation #burden
New paper accepted for publication today in Research in Neurodiversity - 'Putting on a disguise to fit in: A mixed methods study of experiences in autistic camouflaging', with my colleagues Sarah Jones, Ben Sharpe, Rachel King, & Daniel Waldeck #autism #autisticmasking #camouflaging #neurodiversity
You don’t actually learn to get over it. You don’t actually learn to be normal. You just pretend enough.
#AutisticMasking #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity #AuDHD
