Understanding Neurodivergence Part 4

What is masking

 

Mask [noun] (Hiding truth)

appearance or behaviour that hides the truth

 

Masking is when a person pretends to be someone they are not and covers their true self to fit in. This is very common for neurodivergent people to do this daily. Especially around people they do not know.

 

Masking is also known as camouflaging and social cervical strategy.

 

Why we mask 

Here are some of the reasons:

• To feel safe
• Avoid stigma
• Avoid bullying
• Avoid been taken advantage of
• Avoid drawing attention to ourselves
• To hide autistic traits

 

Who masks

It is most common for females to mask, but it is still common for males, undiagnosed/ diagnosed, children/teenagers/ adults to mask. 

 

Masking has been presented as an autistic trait, but in fact that is not the truth. Masking is common with neurodivergent people no matter their conditions. It is known neurotypical people to mask after trauma (PTSD/CPTSD) especially after being triggered. 

 

Impact of masking

Masking for a short or long period it can have impact on:

• Getting diagnosed
• Putting themselves in uncomfortable situations
• Mental health
• Not getting the right support
• Feel isolated
• Scared to be their true self

 

Signs of masking

• Change in their interests to fit with other people
• Change in food types (eat food that they don’t usually like)
• Have burnouts and shutdowns more than normal
• Mimicking other people’s behaviour and body language
• Being quiet when they are normally chatty
• Increase in anxiety
• Keeping things to themselves
• Changing routine at last minute to please others
• Change in their behaviour (depends on citation, surroundings, people)
  • Eg if meeting new people they may mask as they don’t know them or they are not sure how they will react, but may be very chatty around people they feel more comfortable around 
• Trying really hard not to stim 
• Scripting/ rehearsing conversations
• Struggle talking in a multiple conversations
• Limited answer to yes/no

 

Tips

1. Ask questions
2. Try to understand
3. Don’t judge us
4. Don’t push us to do things we are not comfortable with
5. Learn the signs of masking
6. Remember we are all different
7. Don’t put us on the spot

 

Tests

There are tests online which could tell you if you are masking or not. Masking can become normal and a part of your everyday life. You may not even know you are doing masking. Here is the link if you want to see if you masking: The Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q) | Embrace Autism (embrace-autism.com)