Hi everyone. I did a series of drawing on Masking and Camouflaging as an autistic person (see slideshow above!) So what actually is masking? Masking involves trying to hide being autistic so others will accept us. It’s also referred to as camouflaging. This means we act in ways that other people will think we are ‘normal’ and to try and be accepted socially.
I usually don’t include a lot of wording in my work but I had lots to say about this topic and could have made more designs! Image description is in the individual image alt text on my Instagram post here
I’d love to know what you think and if you relate to anything I mentioned, feel free to comment down below! And yes I have been in a situation before when a hospital consultant (yes really) told me I didn’t look autistic 👀 honestly baffling.
Also just want to mention I’ve got a new 21andsensory Podcast episode going live tomorrow at 1pm U.K. time with the lovely @zara.bethx who last night hit 1 million followers on her TikTok account which was a huge achievement! So make sure you tune in via Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you usually get your podcasts!
21andsensory 
I think masking, camouflage and dissociation are all on a spectrum. The crucial difference is how much anxiety they are causing. Masking and scripting can be pretty useful, but dissociation can be scary.
You seem to be describing a mix of coping mechanisms that probably help you deal with the NT world, but vary in the energy required… The destructive edge comes from out-of-control dissociation, which is anxiety-inducing. You don’t want to tip from one to the other…..
I had this whole chat the other day with someone about whether them looking at me was difficult. They hadn’t even realised I never actually look at them on zoom, so it turns out NTs are easier to fool than I thought 😂
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I would think masking is difficult! Its good your creating awareness of it! xo
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