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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muRJEElbGnE

#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 #ActuallyAutistic #Autistic #Neurodiversity

Why You Hate Being Perceived

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6Ao5sW4oQo

#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

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 #AutisticBurnout

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

https://medium.com/@christian.gajewski/the-mask-of-hades-3d427bcd9ba0

#ActuallyAutistic #Autism #Austist #AuDHD #PTSD #Trauma #AutisticMasking

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

Why are autistic voices so often unheard in groups? In my article, I explain the dynamics, stereotypes, and solutions for more inclusive spaces.
#Autism #Neurodiversity #AutisticMasking

https://medium.com/@christian.gajewski/invisible-walls-why-autistic-voices-go-unheard-in-group-settings-80b607dd63c4