Masking (Autistic Camouflaging)

Masking is the process of suppressing, disguising, or compensating for autistic traits in order to appear neurotypical in social settings. It includes: suppressing stims, forcing eye contact, memorizing social scripts, mimicking peers' behavior, hiding difficulties, and building a "social persona" that differs significantly from one's inner self.

Masking comes at a high cost: it consumes considerable cognitive and emotional energy, creates dissonance between the "presented self" and the "real self," and is strongly linked to anxiety, depression, exhaustion, and autistic burnout. It's more intense in autistic women — which contributes to later diagnosis in that group.

Masking is often not fully conscious — many autistic people learned to camouflage automatically throughout childhood as a social survival strategy. Recognizing that you mask — and that it comes at a cost — is an important step.