What is masking?

Everyone masks at times – but for an autistic person they may use strategies (consciously or subconsciously) to hide their autistic differences from other people. It is different to other forms of masking because of the effort involved and the impact it has for the autistic person doing the masking. Sometimes masking is also referred to as camouflaging, social chameleon, or compensation.

Masking in autism is a relatively current and evolving field of research. Research suggests that most autistic people mask their autism at some point. Some research suggests women mask more than men and to a higher degree (Sedgewick et al. Autism & Masking: How and why people do it, and the impact it can have).

Why do autistic people mask?

To fit in with others or in order to feel accepted

Previous experience, or fear, of negative feedback from others on character traits/ behaviour

To avoid stigmatising responses from others

A survival strategy to cope with the challenges in the sensory and social environment

What to look out for?

An autistic girl may:

Stop themselves from stimming or restrict their sensory responses

Put on a character; this could be real or imagined

Hide their true feelings i.e. putting on a fake smile

Copy the speech, tone or body movements of someone else

Use observation/ TV/ film/ books to learn social behaviours

Force eye contact

Practise facial expressions

Develop rules for conversation and scripts

Appear hypervigilant or have superb observational skills

Remember: It may not be easy to detect!

Home vs School presentation:

It is not uncommon for an autistic girl to present differently in their home environment compared to in school.

Home is often the young person’s safe place where they can be their true authentic self, including letting out any anxieties from the school day.

It is important for parents to feel listened to and heard so that schools can most effectively support an autistic girl in school.

What’s the impact?

Under-diagnosis: Masking can lead to autistic people not being diagnosed until much later in life, or at all – especially for girls.

It can be uncomfortable and exhausting masking differences.

Masking can lead to misunderstandings i.e. whereby it is assumed an autistic person understood something, when they did not.

There is often an offset whereby the pent-up emotions in the autistic person need to find a way out. This can lead to the differences being observed in home compared to school.

Long-term masking can impact an autistic person’s mental health, increasing the likelihood of anxiety and depression.